Muslim Basketball

Bethlehem keeps on rolling, showing resolve to overcome an early deficit against a dangerous Tiberias team. Nice to see Trey hitting 3 threes as they’ll need his shooting to contend. Wish they had a better defensive plan, as Andrew felt comfortable putting up 19 3 point attempts. Bethlehem has played lots of close games this season and will need to fight to stay atop the PR by the end of the season.

Convincing win for Haifa over a talented Al-Bireh team. Shahzaib continues to be a central force with 22 points and opening things up for his teammates, including a nice 14 points for Raj with 4-8 from three. It’s been super impressive how many good 3-point looks they can consistently generate and they have the shooters to convert. Great defense to hold the opposition to 29% from the field.

QUADRUPLE DOUBLE?? Jay Mustafa finished with 20-11-13-10 steals in a dominant win. Not much else to take away against a team without their stars that started the game with 4 players. Areeha handled business as they should. They’ll look to continue their strong season so far.

Anas “Anas Zubi” Zubi. Shot of the season so far from 4 point range to send it to OT moments after he was told he can only hit FTs. It seems like he’s hitting one of these every season now. Big comeback win in 2OT for Rafah against a strong defensive team. Shoutout Nabil who had a gigantic 3 and game sealing block, and Ali Alamrany helping close it out with a layup and crucial steal.

Heartbreaking loss after battling without Mahdy and almost pulling it off. Missed FTs down the stretch were killer in letting Rafah hang around. However, the defense looked incredible, Rafah couldn’t generate any space. The offense was a little iso heavy but Moatze and Baraa showed enough flashes to be confident in Al-Khalil’s shotmaking once Mahdy is back in the fold.

Nice to see Ali Hassan have his best game of the season but the timing was unfortunate with Sal’s off shooting night as Tiberias fell short against a top tier team. With so many 3s, the offense is prone to random variation in shooting. They can compete with anyone but they’ll need advantages elsewhere, possibly defense, to string together consecutive wins come playoff time.

Without Omar, Safad has handled business convincingly, winning by a combined 32 points the last two weeks. The defense has been dominant, as Gaza was still in the 20s well into the second half before a late run. They’ll need this aggressive version of Aadil to stay when the full team returns. Huzaifa had a season high 13 and they’ll need as much shooting as they can get.

Interestingly, after opening the season with a great win, Al-Bireh continues to trend lower while the team they beat trends up. The losses have come against good teams but at some point, we need to see the ceiling version of this team if they want to be high up the rankings. Adeeb and Khalid rightfully led the way in scoring but Amir and Kevin can afford to be more aggressive.

After last week, it was nice to see Tulkarem show how strong their team is, winning without Mana or Moayad. The Aglaguel brothers led the way: Elias had 18 on 14 shots and Moad had a North career high 21 on 9-10(!) shooting with 6 steals while looking nonchalant. Would like to see this team build some momentum, especially offensively, to give themselves a chance at a deep run.

Lots of good signs from Jerusalem’s offense as they got off to an early lead moving the ball from side to side against the zone. Mo Masri 5-11 from 3 is massive. The muscle memory is there and he’s heating up. They were able to hold on after Yazur switched to man, with Mike dropping a casual 30. A bit concerning that they let Yazur have season highs in PTS, FGM, FG%.

A confusing team to rank, Nazareth put out a balanced scoring effort and have pressed their advantages well in all their wins. Games like this from Khaled and Muhammad leave room for players like Yamin and Lawrence to contribute. Their losses, however, have been borderline dysfunctional against better teams. The next few games will define what type of team Nazareth is.

Just when they started to show some signs of life last week, the vibes are back down for Jenin. Starting with 4 players and down their top guys, Jenin had an uphill battle from the beginning. Not much to take away from on the court but this team needs a big statement next time out to generate some momentum.

One possession where 3 offensive boards led to 4 missed threes for Baysan felt like a good representation of the type of night it was. However, letting Tulkarem push the pace in transition and extend the number of possessions hurt them. Their strong mentality needs to translate to defense and stopping the ball in transition. Shoutout Omar Abdelgany 19 points on 8-13.

As a team with higher aspirations, Gaza has to take advantage of opportunities like this against a team without one of their top scorers. Ian tried to bring them back late but against teams that match their physicality, Gaza’s other options can be neutralized. Defensively, too much ball watching and chasing blocks hurt but those can be fixed with better focus and discipline.

Despite all the losses, Yazur continues to fight and play with energy. They need better defensive technique, though, because a 16-2 foul difference is huge in a 8 point game. Offensively, Abdulrafay played more this week and he delivered with 14 points, 5-7 and 4-4 from 3. The drives from the perimeter are not as threatening so maybe they can try working inside-out with Marawan.

Another week with only 5 players available is rubbing salt in the wound for Yaffa as they need as many potential edges as they can get, including depth. Great game for Hosam with a season high 13 points. Next time out, they’ll need to be creative to get Jojo, Malik and Hossam all clicking at the same time. This is an opportunity for Yaffa to experiment offensively.