El Jaish thrash Qatar Sports Club, Shamal win a thriller

The deadly trio of Leon Macklin, Saeed Erfan Ali and Davon James did the bulk of the scoring as El Jaish thrashed Qatar Sports Club 86-66 in the Emir Cup last evening.In a one-sided game, El Jaish led for all the 40 minutes, establishing a 42-32 lead at the halfway stage before pulling away further as the match progressed.With just 10 minutes remaining, El Jaish led 61-47 to put the result of the match beyond any doubt.Macklin top-scored with 25 with a 73.33 percent field goal conversion rate, while  Ali contributed 21 and James 19.Edward Justice with 20, Ibou Sarr with 18 and Giama Ibrahim with 11 excelled for Qatar Sports Club.El Jaish scored 27 points from turnovers and 22 fast-break points with Qatar Sports Club’s corresponding figures were 12 and five.In another match, Al Shamal staged a fine rally after the third quarter to edge out Al Wakrah 76-74. Al Wakrah appeared to be heading for a win when they scored 20 points in the third quarter to lead by nine points (55-46) going into the final 10 minutes. However, Al Shamal summoned their last reserves of energy to post a whopping 30 points  to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The key moment came with five seconds remaining when Al Shamal’s Nikola Vasojevic was fouled and the Serbian scored off the two free throws to help his team take a crucial 76-73 lead.With one second remaining Thomas Blair scored from one of his free-throws to close the gap but Al Wakrah soon ran out of time to go down fighting.Mohamed Harat top-scored for Al Shamal with 29 points, while Vasojevic had 18 and Saleh Elhag Ali 15. Blair’s match-high 38 points went in vain for Al Wakrah.