Darius Lashaun Rice was impressive all around for Al Ahli in the opening game of the Qatar Basketball Cup but his 35-point effort couldn’t stop Al Khor from taking an 82-75 win at the Al Gharafa Sports Club here yesterday.
At the end of the first quarter, Ahli had a five-point advantage at 20-15, but that quickly changed in the next five minutes, as Khor, led by Patrick Ronald Rembert and Charles Abouo, dunked 16 points to Ahli’s 3 for an eight-point lead at 31-23.
After that, Khor worked like a well-oiled machine to control the game.
In the fourth quarter, Ahli did produce an exhilarating 11-point run to get within two points of Khor at 60-62 but, eventually, that turned out to be the last bit of rally Ahli came up with.
For Khor, Rembert dunked 24 points, including seven two-pointers, a three-pointer and seven free-throws, while Abouo pitched in with 21 points besides 11 rebounds. Alen Hadzibegovic added 18 points to the team tally.
Rice, the top-scorer in the game, had eight two-pointers, five three-pointers, four free-throws besides 16 rebounds, including 12 defensive ones.
Others to get into double figures were Ndoye Elhadj Seydou with 21 points, and Terrence Lavalle Joyner Jr. with 17 points.
In one of the closest matches this season, El Jaish edged out Al Sadd by a solitary point to pick up a 74-73 win.
The two teams remained neck-to-neck for the bulk of the match-up, except for a brief period midway, when a 12-point scoring run converted a one-point deficit into a 11-point advantage for Sadd at 38-27.
However, a 26-point haul in the final quarter by Jaish players, against 17 by Sadd was enough to eek out a narrow win in the second match of the Qatar Basketball Cup.
For Jaish, Vernon Leon Macklin topped the scoresheets with 27 points, including 11 two-pointers and five free-throws. Rashad Ernest Bell (17 points) and Babcar Marone Ngom (10 points) were the others to get into double figures for the winners.
Dante Nathanael Williams led the charge for Sadd with 25 points. Williams had seven two-pointers, three three-pointers and two free-throws to show for for his points haul. Mohamed Deba Kone added 19, while Khalid Suliman Abdi and Daoud Mousa Daoud pitched in with 12 and 11 points respectively.
Qatar Basketball Cup returns to the indoor hall of Al Gharafa Sports Club on Saturday, with Khor taking on Qatar Sports Club in the first game at 5pm, while Jaish will face Al Arabi in the second game at 7pm.



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