Muslim Basketball

Even without Omar Mana and Amir Hassan, this team will be run smoothly behind the veteran leadership of Shafic (18pts, 7-15 shooting). Not to mention Coach Elias investing into their youth: Moad and Hussein finishing with 14 points each. This’ll be a scary team once they get their pieces back. 

Anas is running it back with his team from Winter. No Ammar Saymeh but they got a win against a strong Al-Bireh side. Mohamed Albana (22pts, 12reb) and Anas (17pts) led the game, not to mention a strong outing from Mohammad Turan, who put up a solid day himself. One question on everyone’s mind: have they fixed their chemistry issues that plagued them from last season? 

Musa Yanes returns to Central MB with a win against Tubas, going for 22pts, 13rebs, and 7ast. His last CNJ season was one to forget, and it looks like he’s coming back even stronger. Ehsan Popal scored daggers to close out the game; he finished with 18pts. Sheff Doola is picking up right where he left off, finishing efficiently around the hoop. They seem like they have all the right pieces to make a run at the chip this season. 

Elton and Desar are MB mainstays at this point, and seeing them tear Baysan apart is a sight we often don’t see. Elton (24pts) got through the defense with ease while newcomer Lindi Sela tacked on 17 points. Youseff Elshenawy led the game in rebounds with 13. With a hungry Yazur team on the horizon, we’ll see if they’re real contenders going forward. 

The Winter champs are making their return without the two pieces that won them the chip, but replacing them with Husan Zakir and MB vet Abdul Mutaleb Popal. The team overall had a solid performance, with four players scoring in double digits, with Abdul leading the way with 18pts. Mohamed Popal dropped 16pts of his own while Husan contributed 9pts, 14reb, and 7asts. Overall, they played a really weak Qibya squad; the real test might be coming with Beit Jala in game 2. 

Ahmed Ismaeil makes his return to MB with fellow Winter teammate Abdelrahman Elashry (15pts, 12reb), and a brand new team. Highlighting this squad is Arjun Petgrave (23pts, 12reb) who was the clear cut difference maker on the court. Ahmed really looks like he learned from the last season woes, opting to be a pass-first player for this team. They barely beat a strong Akka side, and I’m interested to see how well these guys can mesh with each other. 

They were short handed this week, but when you have Messiah on the court, I don’t think you need much help. Messiah finished with a near triple-double (28pts, 17reb, 7blk) not to mention being the ultimate block machine which led them to the win. Helping the squad was Belal Habibullah, with 10pts on 4-6 shooting on the day. They were also missing key pieces in Aaron and Waheed, which gives me the impression that they’ll be even stronger in the coming weeks. 

The Jersey City boys are coming from North MB with a winless Winter campaign under their belt, and hey, they left the courts with their first ever dub. Marawan is an absolute unit on the courts, getting rebounds with ease and finishing with a double-double (16pts, 14reb). With him is Alaa Belhadj (13pts, 5stl) who’s a shifty PG. Gotta clean up the shots tho, 5-21 isn’t gonna cut it against better squads. They also need to learn to close games out better going forward.

Abdurahmen is bringing the majority of his team back this season, adding Ronny Sawwan and Subhan into the mix. Not to mention the return of Daishon (10pts), and if he stayed the whole game, I’m sure they would’ve won. Mo Amin had a great game (28pts) and looks to have been working on his three point shot in the offseason, aka, making himself more of a problem for opposing defenses. On a side note, if there was a leaderboard for fouls, I have no doubt Abdurahmen would be leading it each and every season.

A tough loss for Mairaj and his boys. But let’s look at the bright side of things: they were missing Iyaad and Mike Johnson, Aymen had a double-double (18pts, 10reb), and youngin Shayan had 18 points in his long awaited MB debut (my personal LeBron and Bronny). They lost by 2. They’ll be fine, I’m sure of that much. 

Biggest news of the offseason: Lil O taking his talents to… Akka. The star free agent, who struggled in his game today, chose to play with Ibraheem Sharaf (24pts) and his boys. This game was hard fought, and Akka clawed back during the closing minutes. They were without their big Ahmed Kouar, and the rest of the squad not shooting efficiently didn’t help. Look for them to bounce back in the coming weeks. 

Did Mahrooz finally develop a shot? Going 5-11 from 3 might make him an all-around threat now. Shoutout Salman Khan, 7-13 from 3 is no joke, and he’s quickly becoming one of the best 3&D players in the league. Tubas made the game close till the very end, and it might’ve been a different game if they weren’t missing Omar Singer and Ameer Koyas.

Mattias introduced himself to the league with a week-high 32 points. This game should’ve been theirs for the taking, Nazareth was missing Mana, but it looks like no one else on the team could step up besides Mohamed Kamel (12pts, 13reb). Sami Butt looks to be in his PG bag, tied with a week-high 7 assists. 

Another father-son duo coming into this season with Sami and Kareem Shaban (18pts). This team has some studs on it—Aadil Yousuf is a great player and Adam Spengler looks like he’s a shooter. Not to mention they were missing Himey and Muj. This is a game they need to forget, Yazur was gifting them a win and they didn’t take it. I think once they learn how to play with one another and grow their chemistry, this team can be a force on the court. 

Mahmoud and Co are in for a long season once again. Also, 2-14 from 3? Immediate jail time.

Looks like these boys just wanna have fun. If losing by almost thirty is fun, I mean.