Adamu Saaka scored a whopping 32 points for Al Wakrah but couldn’t stop Al Gharafa from posting a narrow 72-69 win during their Qatar Basketball League playoff match at Al Gharafa Sports Club yesterday.
The match-high effort included five two-pointers, six shots from beyond the arc and four free-throws. Saaka also notched up nine defensive rebounds to give his team a chance despite trailing for most of the times.
For Gharafa, Omar Abdelkader Salem was the top-scorer with 19 points. Salem dunked six two-pointers, two three-pointers and a free throw, besides getting hold of 11 rebounds.
The other Gharafa players to get into double figures were Devan Downey (15 points), Abdulrahman Mohamed Saad (15 points) and Emmanuel Osaro Adako (12 points).
For Wakrah, Mohamed Ouiri, Donald Singleton and Mohamed Abdulrahman added 15, 12 and 10 points respectively.
In the other match of the day, Vincent Hunter II led Al Shamal’s charge in their 81-75 win over Al Sadd with a match-high 31-point effort.
Shamal forced an amazing turnaround towards the second half of the match, having trailed Sadd 4-19 in the first quarter.
By the 15th minute, Shamal had pulled level with Sadd at 28-all before taking the lead for the first time.
While Sadd showed signs of life 10 minutes into the second half taking a two-point lead at 56-54, Shamal players were in no mood to let the game slip away.
For Shamal, Malcolm White and Mohamed Hachad added 17 and 16 points respectively, while Kosar al-Kader pitched in with 12 points.
Sadd scoring was led by Saad Abdulrahman Ali with 24 points, while Tyrone Anderson added 16 points. Khalid Abdi and Erfan Ali Saeed added 12 points each.
The playoff’s next matches will be hosted on Saturday. Shamal will face Sadd in the early match at 5pm, while Wakrah will be up against Gharafa once again at 7pm.

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