Al Khor edge Rayyan, big win for Al Sadd

Al Rayyan blew a nine-point first-quarter advantage to crash to yet another defeat in the Qatar Basketball League at the Al Gharafa Sports Club yesterday.
The former champions were quick off the blocks, leading 21-12 after the first 10 minutes against Al Khor, and holding a narrow 33-32 advantage at the midway stage.
But they suffered an inexplicable meltdown after that before going down 83-72.
Al Khor turned around the match with a fine all-round display, focusing on defence and yet not letting up on the attack to have Al Rayyan on the back foot.
They scored 19 points in the third quarter, while Rayyan had only 15, taking a slender three-point lead with the final 10 minutes remaining.
In the final quarter, however, Al Khor were even more impressive. They scored 32 points, while restricting their rivals to just 18 to clinch a deserving win.
Darrell Blackmon and Khobi Williamson were the stars of the match for Al Khor with 26 and 25 points, respectively, while Jaw’aan Davis had 12.
For Al Rayyan, Sherwood Brown top-scored with 19, while Tanguy Ngombo and Stephen Hurt scored 18 each.
Strangely, it was Al Rayyan who enjoyed the lead most of the time. They were ahead for a total of 22.27 minutes, while Al Khor only led for 13.55 minutes.
But that didn’t matter too much as Al Khor led when it mattered most to seal the victory.
In another match, Al Sadd thrashed Al Shamal 100-81 with Hiue Mozer top-scoring with 25 and Darrius Oldham contributing 24, 18 of which came from three-pointers.
Babacar Dieng and Julius Coles also excelled with 22 and 18, respectively.
Al Sadd led 21-20 at the end of the first quarter but broke free after that to leave Al Shamal far behind. By the end of the third quarter they were 66-57 ahead but produced a 34-point blitz in the final 10 minutes for an emphatic victory.
For Al Shamal Saleh Elhag excelled with 20 points while Alioune Tew had 19.