Action from Gharafa-Qatar Sports Club match.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Osaro Adako scored 24 points and Samuel Monroe Jr chipped in with 21 as defending champions Al Gharafa notched a convincing 77-60 win over Qatar Sports Club in the Qatar Men’s League here yesterday. A 26-point surge in the final quarter by Al Gharafa was the key to the match after both teams had fought a tense battle for supremacy in the previous 30 minutes.
Qatar Sports Club started off in style by claiming the early honours – they led 12-10 after five minutes and were tied 23-all after the first quarter – but soon lost a bit of steam, allowing Al Gharafa to hit their groove and get slightly ahead.
By the time the second quarter ended, Al Gharafa had inched three points clear at 38-35, but a Jama Abdulrahman three-pointer on a Mile Ilic assist at the start of the third quarter restored parity and sparked a spell of dominance by Qatar Sports Club.
Soon they were comfortably ahead at 46-40, thanks to six successive points by Ilic and Qatar Sports Club maintained the momentum until the end of the quarter which they clinched 54-51, thanks to two points scored by Wallace Cox with 50 seconds remaining. But if Qatar Sports Club thought they could consolidate on their advantage they were mistaken as Al Gharafa came back with a vengeance.
The holders kept their rivals scoreless for more than five minutes, during which they motored to a 64-54 lead and finally sealed the win with a Monroe three-pointer with one minute remaining.
For Qatar Sports Club, Ilic was the top scorer with 19 points, while Craig O’Brien was second best with 13.
El Jaish defeated Al Shamal 95-79 in the second match of the day.
