Muslim Basketball

Best win: Slugfest vs Yaffa. For a 1-win team, Baysan has one of the league’s best offensive tools at their disposal: they’ve hit double digit 3s in every game since Week 1. Ironically, the 10 threes they hit in the win was one of the lowest this season. Most teams don’t have the discipline across all 5 players on the court to play all of Baysan tight at the 3 point line. I don’t think they need to attack early to generate shots, so slowing down the pace significantly could aid the defense.

Baysan had some success in the first half hitting threes which kept them within reach. Over the course of the game, Baysan was always second to the ball, on the glass and with turnovers. Their depth showed as they were able to get good shots against lesser defenders. However, defense and hustle are lacking and those are the qualities that help win games when the margins are close.

Great game against one of the league’s best for Baysan but ultimately they fell short. Even when they couldn’t break down the defense off the dribble, they did a good job using picks and entry passes to get in the paint. John had a great game in the post and was giving Haifa lots of problems with his size and shooting. If they clean up a few things they can get that extra boost to close some of these games off.

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.

The team won’t feel any moral victories but Baysan had stretches where they looked very good. Ahmad Saleh looked good, adding yet another threat to watch out for on this deep and balanced team. Their strong shooting is a double edged sword, as a lot of possessions resulted in very quick 3 point misses and easy transition opportunities for the other team.

Baysan handled their business well this week, with a balanced scoring effort of 5 players in the 8-12 point range. This is an excellent three point shooting team but want to see better defense against the top teams in the league before moving them up the rankings. They’ve been competitive and would not be surprising at all to see them rise later in the season.

Excellent shooting performance for Baysan despite the loss. 14 threes made.  Bounce back game for Omer Marachli with 17 and Shahaan getting on the board with 14. Glendi 7-9 for 18 points is huge too. The team has been competitive both weeks but they need to do more than chase games from behind.

Baysan leaned heavily on perimeter shooting, with Asim T knocking down five threes on his way to 19 points, while John Pearson provided solid interior scoring with 11 points and seven rebounds. However, the team struggled with overall efficiency, shooting 34% from the field and failing to convert a single free throw. Turnovers and inconsistent shooting from key players made it difficult for Baysan to keep pace with Rafah’s balanced attack.