Al Rayyan’s Dominic Davon (No 14) spins away from El Jaish’s Fadi Abilmona (No 6) during their first match of their Qatar Basketball Leagues’s best-of-three finals at the Al Gharafa Indoor Hall yesterday. PICTURE: Othman Iraqi
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Al Rayyan drew first blood in their quest for the Qatar Men’s League title when they beat El Jaish 86-78 in the first match of their best-of-three finals at the Al Gharafa Indoor Hall yesterday.
A 52-31 lead at the end of the second quarter proved instrumental in their victory as the Qatar giants fought off a late challenge from El Jaish. Al Rayyan’s Dominic Davon shot five three-throws to emerge the top-scorer for either side with 28 points, while Armond Bolds had 22 and Mohamed Hassan 14.
Qatar veteran Yaseen Ismail Musa played almost a full match to score 11 points and lend some inspiration to his team.
Al Rayyan asserted themselves early in the match by taking a 12-9 lead at the end of the first five minutes, but by the time the first quarter ended, they had stretched their advantage to 28-18 lead.
In the second quarter, Al Rayyan scored 24 points as against El Jaish’s 13 and that proved the key to the outcome of the match.
And although El Jaish produced a much-improved show in the third quarter by scoring 21 points, it was too little too late for them. For El Jaish, Larrell Taggart top-scored with 21 points, while Yusuf Mohamed and Harold Boney Watson had 14. Al Rayyan led for 36 minutes in the match, while El Jaish had their noses ahead for only about three minutes.
“It is great to be one up after the first game as it gives us a lot of confidence,” said Al Rayyan coach Koufos Stergois.
“It was by no means an easy match but the boys stuck to their task and ensured victory for the team. Dominic is a fine player and he delivered for us today as he has often,” the Greek said.
El Jaish coach Dragoslav Milovanovic said he was disappointed but not losing hope.
“For sure you get upset when you lose but there are still two more matches remaining in the series and we can still turn the tables on Al Rayyan,” he said.
Meanwhile, Al Wakrah pipped Al Shamal 81-77 to take fifth place. In a neck-and-neck battle, Al Wakrah edged their rivals after trailing 48-39 and 61-59 at the end of the second and third quarters. Adamu Saaka was the hero in Al Wakrah’s win as he top-scored with 34 points, nailing a whopping 15 off them from three-pointers.
Mohamed Abdulrehman with 23 and Rashaad Singleton and Mohamed Ouiri with 10 each also excelled for the winners.
For Al Shamal, Leron Hunter II excelled with 24 points, while Kosar al-Kader and Samer Rabia contributed 16 and 15 respectively.
