Sadd edge past Arabi, Rayyan beat Jaish

By Sports Reporter/DohaAl Sadd out-steadied Al Arabi in the dying seconds to pull off a 74-70 hard-earned victory in the first game of their best-of-three semifinal showdown in the Qatar Men’s League last night at the Al Gharafa Indoor Arena.Al Arabi, behind the prolific duo of Abdulai Jalloh and Alvin Mofunanya, drew first blood and grabbed the upper hand early in the game but Chris dela Rosa and Thomas Ibrahim helped Al Sadd peg a 17-all logjam with their rivals after 10 minutes of play.With an up-tempo game at the onset of the second period and with Mofunanya running berserk inside the paint, the Heir Apparent champions unleashed a 9-3 spurt for 26-20 advantage midway in the period.Jalloh anchored a 10-4 blast to give the redshirts a 12-point cushion at 34-22, with 1:40 before the halftime break but Mousa Daoud strung up a couple of baskets to spearhead a quick 12-3 counter-offensive that lifted Al Sadd back in the game at 34-37 after two quarters.  Daoud continued to wax hot in the third canto and combined with Saad Abdulrahman to get the Emir Cup in the driver’s seat after a long while and stay on top at 57-55 going into the final stage of the match.After five minutes of fierce battle and several lead changes, Al Sadd behind spitfire Chris dela Rosa went up to a 68-64 lead. Earlier on, defending champions Al Rayyan moved a game away to clinching a finals berth as they trounced a beleaguered El Jaish, 69-62, in the first game of their own other best-of-three series. Al Rayyan outplayed Army from the start, easily taking the upper hand, 25-16 in the first period, 45-30 at the half before settling down to a 60-39 advantage at the end of the third quarter after pulling away by as much as 24 points midway in the period. El Jaish, playing sans ace playmaker and number one scorer Fadi Abilmona who had a fractured shooting hand, visibly struggled in the early stages of the match and barely got their game going only in the final canto.Boney Harold Watson topscored with 19 points. Ace-gunner Targuy Ngombo contributed 16 points while Yaseen Mousa and Suleiman Braimoh each had 11 points.Turki Ali carried the scoring for Army with 16 points. Steve Noubisse chipped in 16 points and hauled down 11 rebounds. The semifinal duels resume tomorrow (Friday) at the Al Gharafa Indoor Arena with Al Sadd and Arabi taking centre-stage at 5:00 pm while Al Rayyan and El Jaish go against each other in the main game at 7:00 pm.