El Jaish trip QSC, Rayyan beat Sadd

By Danotzki Santos/Doha

Fadi Abilmona manoeuvered his way through a couple of picks and scored on a pull-up jumper over the outstretched arms of Qatar Sports Club defenders as time expired to push El Jaish to a heart-stopping 77-76 squeaker of a win last night as Round 1 basketball hostilities of the Qatar Men’s League reached its last day at the Al Gharafa Indoor Arena. 

The wily Jaish guard had an awful shooting night going 7 of 21 from the outside but saved the day for El Jaish with his heroics in the endgame and gave his team a 6-2 finish in the first round of the tournament.

Leading 76-74 with a minute left in the ball game, it looked like Qatar Club was headed towards pulling off a monumental upset against Army but the black shirts muffed six opportunities from the free throw line and failed to buy a single basket in the remainder of the match.

The game was hard-fought from the start, as the two teams exchanged leads 24 times, and were tied six times including at 40-all halfway in the game. Qatar took the first period at 23-20, the third at 62-60 and were in control in the final period until Fadi hit the shot that stole the game away from their hands. Mohammad Bakir led all scorers with 31 points. Fadi managed 16 points.

In the main game, Al Rayyan had the better of Al Sadd, 79-63. A fiery hard court battle between two powerhouse ball clubs in the land, the match blazed through the first three periods with banging bodies on both end s of the floor.

The defending champs broke the ice and led outright 7-6 but Al Sadd was quick to respond and scattered a string of points to wrest the upper hand, 13-11, with Michael Benjamin Southall having a field day inside the shaded area. Targuy Ngombo and Erfan Saeedwere scoring with impunity for Rayyan but Chris dela Rosa’s gritty plays  kept his team at a 21-16 advantage at the end of the first period.

Boney Harold Watson put the clamps on Dela Rosa came the second period and as Sadd’s offense went on disarray, Rayyan gunners kept puncturing the hoops to establish a 37-28 halftime advantage.

Coach Brian Rowsom’s charges used their running offensive to the hilt after the break keeping Southall and the rest of the white shirts catching up on defense as they pulled away 57-46 entering the final quarter. The defending champions blew the contest wide open in the final period as they soared to their biggest advantage of 22 points going into the final buzzer.

Al Rayyan and Al Sadd are tied on top of the team standings with 7 wins and 1 loss each.