Al Shamal dominated defending champions Al Rayyan for an 89-80 win the Qatar Men’s League at Al Gharafa Club yesterday.
Although the scores point to a tough match, fact was Al Shamal were comfortably ahead for most part of the encounter, except for the first five minutes when Al Rayyan led 14-13.
Mohamed Harat and Saleh Ali were the stars for Al Shamal, scoring 26 and 25 points respectively, as they maintained a steady advantage after making a slow start.
As prolific as Harat and Sahel were for Al Shamal, both failed to score even a single three-pointer.
But that did not matter one bit as they led 25-23, 47-40 and 64-60 after the first three quarters, before a 25-point effort in the final period took them to an eventually comfortable win.
Abdul Qadir Kosar and Yousuf Ahmed also excelled for the winners with 16 and 12 points, respectively. For Al Rayyan, Marcus Bell top-scored with 30, while Mohamed Hassan had 26.
The second match of the day ended in lopsided fashion with El Jaish thrashing Al Khor 93-57 with Saeed Irfan Ali top-scoring for the winners with 18.
Leon Macklin and James Davon scored 15 and 14, respectively as El Jaish notched up a 54-27 lead in the second quarter and never looked back.
For Al Khor Rickey Young scored a game-high 32 but ended up on the losing side.
