By Danotzki Santos/Doha
Badly hurt by the debacle in the hands of Al Sadd last week, Al Arabi starring the high-flying Jalloh Abdullah came out waxing hot from the opening tip-off unto the final buzzer and smothered a hapless Al Shamal, 85-66, last night in the Qatar Men’s Basketball League at the Al Gharafa Indoor Arena.
Arabi started off with a fiery 13-2 opening assault and went on to finish the first period pulling away at 27-16.
Jalloh kept the Arabi juggernaut going in the next stages of the game as they soared to a 48-32 advantage at halftime and to their biggest lead at 70-45 at the end of the third period.
Shamal played harder in the final quarter but could only manage to cut the deficit to 19 after 40 minutes of play.
Arabi improved to 4-1 while Shamal dropped to 1-4.
Meanwhile, Al Gharafa had earlier improved to 2-2 as they edged Qatar Sports Club, 84-75.
Gharafa led throughout the match, 24-12 in the first quarter, 47-29 at halftime and 68-53 entering the final period.
Leslie Lamont began to hit his stride early in the fourth quarter and ignited Qatar’s 12-2 run to come to within five points, 65-70 but Gharafa regrouped after Coach Koussay Hatem called for truce, and fought back hard enough to maintain their lead until the final buzzer.
William Brandon had an explosive game for Gharafa scoring 24 and dishing out 13 assists. Emanuel Awako helped with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Leslie led Qatar with 28 points while Omar Seck hauled a record 21 rebounds and chipped in 24 points.
League hostilities resume tomorrow as Al Gharafa return to action versus Al Ahli at 5:00 pm while Yaseen Mousa and Al Rayyan stake their winning streak against a resurgent El Jaish five led by spitfire Fadi Abilmona in the main game at 7:00 pm.