Muslim Basketball

The new #1 of the season, and taking down a tough team like Akka really shows that Areeha is for real. Sheff is in his bag right now, 27 points, 15 rebounds on 12-16 shooting are POTW numbers (if Mattias didn’t drop 46). Ehsan Popal (15pts, 9reb) has also been expanding his game a bit from just shooting threes, so I’m looking forward to how he gets better. Musa (11pts, 8reb) came late, but he stabilizes this squad. Areeha has a tough next couple of games, and I want to see them take it up a notch. 

46 points. The most in Central MBs short history. Mattias is easily having a historical season, and it looks like nothings going to stop him. Sami Butt (15pts, 10asts) finally showing his 3s, not to mention being a great day with his assists. No one has an answer for these boys, and I doubt anyone will going forward. 

Almost beating a Beit Jala team with their five best players on the court, and without your star PG tells you how good this squad is. Omar Mana (28pts, 11reb) tried to carry this team, but could only do so much. Elias had 12 points and 8 assists, while newcomer Mohamed Moustafa had 11 points. Costly turnovers and late fouls killed this team, but I have no doubt that once Shafic is done watching the PGA Tour, they’ll be back on track. 

Arjun (19pts, 9reb), when he plays to his strengths and isn’t forcing shots, is a really, really good player. Abdelrahman (18pts) is a star in the making, like i said a couple weeks back. You just can’t teach that kind of hustle. 4-0 is 4-0, and I like this squad and what Ahmed Ismaeil’s done this season, but they’re on fruadwatch. They’ve beaten two bad teams, and they barely beat two teams with attendance issues. With the Popal’s up next, I want them to prove me wrong.

This win makes three wins without Abdurahmen in attendance, and at this point, he might just need to stay home. Daishon (29pts, 10-17) is easily top five in the league, and is unstoppable on his drives and from three. Not to mention he knows exactly how to draw fouls and get to the line. Ronny (17pts, 14reb) was a great add to this team, and really spaces the floor for Daishon and Mo Amin to get to work. I like Beit Jala, and I think they’ll soar higher with more wins. 

Another team plagued by attendance issues in the last three games, Akka is been putting up a fight, but there’s only so much you can do when the fuel tank starts hitting E. Omar Abbassi had 30 points and Ibraheem Sharaf had 18 (on 7-25 shooting). Araiz continues his MIP campaign with 11 points on 4-7 shooting. They hung with the best team in Central, and I’m sure with their team back, they’ll be back in the win column. 

I’ve been anticipating Ammar Saymeh’s season debut, and it didn’t disappoint whatsoever. 11 points and 21 boards? What a statement game. Not to mention Anas Ani scoring 21 points on 9-14 shooting. Mohamed Albana also had a nice game for himself, securing a double-double (10pts, 15reb). When the squads there, there aren’t many weakness’ on this team. I’m sure they’ll give Areeha a run for their money this week. 

Bir Seb’a is slowly ramping up to become one of the hottest teams at the moment, and with the debut of Mohammad Bashir (25pts, 11-18), you can count on that. Also contributing were Abdul Popal (18pts), Mohammad Popal (15pts, and Husan Zakir (11pts, 12reb). Everyone on this roster can step up any given week.

Last week they were missing Mahrooz, this week they were missing Omar Singer. When will they be at full strength? Mahrooz (17pts) laid it all out on the court, but he couldn’t get it done by himself. Salman Ilyas led the game with 16 rebounds. Just an overall ugly day from this team, shooting 15.8% from three is a recipe for an L. 

One of my main issues, like every year with a team like this, is their lack of big man recruitment. Elton and Desar can only do so much against teams who’re bigger than them. This is a team that’ll beat bad teams, and really struggle against good ones. 

I’m going to say that I have complete faith in this squad. I don’t think they would’ve beat Ramla even with Aadil and Adam, but with the addition of Moayad (14pts), and the return of Sami and Kareem, I think they can easily become a top 8ish squad. 

Messiah Antwi is a freak of nature, 20 points and 22 rebounds? Absolutely unreal. The rest of the squad? They need to step it up or else they’ll be wasting another one of Messiah’s seasons. Aaron LaPlaca (14pts) was a good add, and spaces the floor well. I just need to see more from the rest of the role players. And playing a veteran Tubas team this week, they can really show their skill. 

Sure, they beat a bad team, but there’s pros to this game. They finally used Marwan, who had 16 points. Hicham (12pts, 4-6) didn’t repeat last weeks performance, which is a good thing. Better to get a win right now before they face Ramla. 

First win coming off a forfeit isn’t ideal, but we take those. 

Scoreboard fooled me, too. Omar Hadid is a bright spot on this roster, but takes too many inefficient shots. Missing Omar Mahmoud and Ryan Albana also doesn’t help. 

I was looking forward to them playing after their almost-win last week.