Rayyan, Sadd take Game 1 of Emir Cup semis best-of-three

El Jaish’s Steve Noubissie (left) blocks Al Rayyan’s Yaseen Musa during their HH Emir Basketball Cup  match at Al Gharafa Indoor Arena yesterday. PICTURE: Othman Iraqi

By Danotzki Santos/Doha

Al Rayyan survived a scoring draught in the third period and came out strong in the fourth to pull off a resounding 65-54 victory over El Jaish last night at HH the Emir Basketball Cup at the Al Gharafa Indoor Arena.

The reigning HH the Heir Apparent Cup champions are thus a win away from notching the first finals berth in HH the Emir Cup.

Behind 15-19 in the first period, El Jaish got off to a strong second quarter start and wrested the upper hand 29-28 after 4 minutes of play riding on the relentless efforts of veteran Mohamed Bakir and wily Fadi Abilmona.

Al Rayyan came back behind Yaseen Mousa to keep a 45-41 advantage athalftime.

Guns got rusty in the third and with shackling defence thrown at each other the count stood at 53-50 after 30 minutes of play as both teams fell short of a double-digit output in the period.

Fadi gave Army the lead, 54-53 at the onset of the final period with a lay-upover the outstretched arms of Jeremeo Davidson.

Erfan Saeed capped an 8-1 Rayyan assault with an under-goal stab with 90 seconds remaining to pull his team to a 61-54 advantage.

Jaish went scoreless in the ensuing plays and Davidson and TanguyNgombo split their gift shots offdesperation fouls in the dying seconds to seal the win.

Easy for Sadd

Meanwhile, Al Sadd had an easy time against Al Arabi earlier in the first game to draw first blood in their own best-of-three series for a finals berth.

The reigning Qatar Men’s League champions, thanks to Antonio Anderson’s 33 points, scored an 86-72 victory versus last year’s HH the Heir Apparent Cup champions and need to win just one more enter the finals.

Al Sadd were in the lead throughout the match as Anderson was unstoppable from the field and Ibrahim Thomas lorded it over everyone inside while Michael Benjamin Southall and the rest of the crew patrolled the defensive end with impunity.

Next Games

Games tomorrow, April 14, 2013 at Al Gharafa Indoor Hall

5:00    El Jaish    vs    Al Rayyan

7:00    Al Arabi        vs    Al Sadd