Saad Abdulrahman scored a match-high 23 points and Michael Taylor and Sammy Monroe contributed 21 each as Al Gharafa thrashed Al Khor, 106-47, on the opening day of the Qatar Cup basketball tournament yesterday.In a hopelessly one-sided match, Al Gharafa raced to a 30-13 lead in the first quarter and never looked back, consolidating every minute to put the match beyond Al Khor’s reach by the time it was at the halfway stage.In fact matters got so ridiculous that Al Gharafa had 86 points after the third quarter, a whopping 50 ahead of Al Khor, who could only manage 36.Gary Layton ploughed a lone furrow for with 21 points for Al Khor while no other played managed a double digit score.The second match of the day, however, was closely fought with Al Wakrah edging out Al Shamal 98-91.It was a tense affair throughout, before Al Wakrah put on a much improved display in the fourth quarter during which they scored 33 points to clinch the issue. Thomas Blair was the top scorer for Al Wakrah with 37 points, 12 of which came from three-pointers, while Ayeni Olatokunbo had 32.For Al Shamal, Mohamed Harat scored 36, while Saleh Ali and Nikola Vasojevic chipped in with 21 and 17, respectively.Today, Al Ahli play Qatar Sports Club at 5pm, while Al Sadd meet Al Arabi at 7pm
March 18, 2017 | 10:53 PM