Qatar Basketball Federation President and QOC General Secretary HE Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani (C) applauds along with other officials as Al Rayyan celebrate their success at the Gharafa Sports Club yesterday. Right: Rayyan's Armond Bolds goes for a basket against El Jaish. Pictures: Anas Samaraee

By Sports Reporter/Doha

Armond Bolds scored a game-high 30 points as Al Rayyan overcame a last quarter scare before beating El Jaish 78-84 to clinch the Men’s League title for the 16th time in 18 years at the Al Gharafa Indoor Hall last evening.
Bolds was in devastating form as he scored 11 field goals from 17 attempts, which included two three-pointers, to torment El Jaish at will, while Dominic Davon and Aloyius Ewing shot 18 and 11 respectively. Bolds also drained six of his six free throws which also proved key to the outcome.
In yet another thrilling and physical match which witnessed a great deal of pushing and shoving – the teams were 1-1 after two close two games in the best-of-three finals – Al Rayyan had to summon all their experience to edge out a gallant El Jaish who looked dead and buried when they fell behind 49-29 at the end of the second quarter.
But El Jaish fought back to close the gap to 12 points by scoring a whopping 22 points in the third quarter while restricting Al Rayyan to just 14.
In a do-or-die final period, with Al Rayyan leading 63-51 at the start, El Jaish kept themselves float in the game until the last minute but a couple of misses by Hani Abilmona  and Harold Boney Watson and failed three-point attempts by Larell Taggart and Badra Ndoye proved their undoing.
Eventually, the Al Rayyan strategy of stamping their authority early in the match paid them rich dividends as they erupted in joy when the final hooter sounded.
“For sure it was a very thrilling match but we managed to keep our heads in the final few minutes to clinch the win,” Al Rayyan coach Koufos Stergios said.
“As we all know El Jaish are a very competent side. They beat us twice this season but we were determined that we won’t allow them to beat us today,” added the Greek.
Al Rayyan and Qatar legend Yaseen Ismail Musa, who scored nine points was thrilled to part of the winning side.
“As you know Al Rayyan are one of the strongest teams in Asia. We are also the Arab champions but winning the league also gives us great satisfaction because it is a great tournament,” Musa said.
“Now we will concentrate on the Cup tournaments.”
Taggart was the top scorer for El Jaish with 20 points, while Watson had 18 and Abilomna and Leon Macklin 14 each.
Al Rayyan scored 20 points from turnovers as against El Jaish’s 14 and also had eight fast break points while their rivals could only manage two.
“We fought gamely but in the end Al Rayyan’s lead proved too tough to overcome,” said El Jaish coach Dragoslav Milovanovic.
“Although we are disappointed that we could not clear the final hurdle we can take a lot of positives from the match. Now we look forward to the Qatar Cup and the Heir Apparent Cup,” Milovanovic added.



Related Story