Taylor shines as Al Gharafa claim Qatar Cup in style

American Michael Taylor scored match-high 43 points and compatriot Sammy Monroe excelled with 22 as Al Gharafa quelled a mid-match challenge from Al Rayyan to win the Qatar Cup title yesterday.Taylor was in such commanding form that he was virtually unstoppable, but what took the contest away from Al Rayyan was his exemplary form from the three-point mark. He nailed six throws out of eight to keep Al Gharafa’s score ticking as they won the contest 104-91.The win helped Al Gharafa capture the first title of the year, having suffered the heartbreak of losing out on the league title to El Jaish a few weeks ago.  Al Gharafa hit form early, racing to a 24-11 lead early in the game before closing out the first quarter 35-23. But Al Rayyan shrugged off the deficit and with an extra spring in their step launched an all-out attack on their rivals to get close.Al Gharafa just about kept their composure and managed to edge the second quarter 53-49, but continued to be hassled by Al Rayyan in the third period which could have also gone either way. But Al Gharafa had more reserves of patience and stamina as they managed to take a slender two-point lead (78-76) into the final quarter.But Suddenly, the fight seemed to have gone out from Al Rayyan as Al Gharafa simply galloped away. By the time the fourth quarter was five minutes old, Al Gharafa had taken  90-84 lead putting Al Rayyan under tremendous pressure.Al Rayyan found the scoring difficult as the Al Gharafa defence held firm. To add to their woes, they also committed unnecessary fouls, handing the advantage to Al Gharafa, who scored a whopping 26 points in the final quarter. In Comparison, Al Rayyan scored just 15, and that ultimately proved the difference in the game.Al Gharafa scored 23 points from turnovers, while Al Rayyan managed only 10.  Al Rayyan also managed 11 fast-break points as against Al Rayyan’s 19. The lead changed eight times during the course of the match, but Al Gharafa led for almost 34 minutes of the game. For Al Rayyan, Abdelrehman Abdelhaleem top scored with 26 points, while Alban Ngombo had 16. Hassan Mohamed and Faraj Aman chipped in with 15 each. “Al Rayyan are a team with a great history but we have been improving over the years and we were determined to show our mettle today,” said Al Gharafa coach Koussay Hatem.“The boys were hurting from the league loss to El Jaish and were determined to make amends and show we are no pushovers. They kept Al Rayyan under pressure for most of the match and I think they more than made up for that loss to El Jaish,” he added. Hatem had a special word of praise for Michael Taylor. “We planned a few things and Mike more delivered today. Once he gets into that sort of form it is pretty difficult for any team to stop him.”Al Rayyan coach Hassan Amin was disappointed with the loss. “We didn’t play as well as we wanted to. We were very good in the middle portion of the game but a bit loose in the beginning,” he said.“Now we have the Emir Cup to redeem our season,” he added.