By Sports Reporter/Doha


El Jaish scored a thrilling 86-73 win over Al Arabi in the first game of their best-of-three semi-final series in the Qatar Cup basketball tournament at the Al Gharafa Indoor Hall yesterday.
Larell Taggart was the start performer in the game for El Jaish with 31 points, while Leon Macklin scored 16 and Badra Ndoye and Yousuf Mohamed had 14 apiece.
Al Arabi overturned a 21-25 deficit at the end of the first quarter to lead 41-38 after the second, but El Jaish picked up their game a notch to complete a tense win.
The turnaround game in the third quarter which saw El Jaish score a whopping 25 points, while Al Arabi could only manage 13.
Taggart scored 12 field goals off 20 chances, including two three-pointers, while Ndoye struck thrice from the three-point mark for the winners.
El Jaish scored 17 points from turnovers while Al Arabi had just seven. The El Jaish substitutes also got into the scoring act with 28 points while the bench contributed zero points to Al arabi’s cause.
Al Arabi’s Hassino Ndoye, however, top-scored for either side with 33 points and although Tanguy Ngombo and Oumar Seck ably supported him with 18 and 16 respectively, their efforts were in vain.
El Jaish coach Dragoslav Milovanovic was happy with his team’s performance.
“It was a very crucial match for us and I am glad we came through with a win,” said Milovanovic. “A 1-0 advantage in a best-of-three series is always advantageous but that doesn’t mean we can sit back and relax,” he added.
In the second semi-final series match, Al Rayyan overcame a strong resistance from Al Gharafa to win 89-83 and go one up.
Al Rayyan blitzed Al Gharafa 22-8 in the first quarter and enjoyed a decent 42-34 lead after the second before slackening a bit in the third.
Al Gharafa scored a whopping 28 points in the third quarter, while Al Rayyan could only manage 22 to trail by two points.
However, Al Rayyan pulled up their socks with 25 points in the final quarter, while restricting their rivals to 17 to clinch a thrilling win.
Armond Bolds had 27 points for Al Gharafa while Dominoc Davon had 26 and Hassan Mohamed 17.
For Al Gharafa, Monroe Samuel Jr scored 30, while Osaro Adako had 22 and Abdukader Salem 11.
The teams clash in their second second semi-final series games tomorrow.

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