Al Rayyan players (in red) try to score against Eljaish during their Emir Cup match at Al Gharafa Indoor Arena in Doha yesterday. RIGHT: Action from Al Arabi’s match against Al Sadd. PICS: WASFY ABU SHUSHA
BY DANTE SANTOS
DOHA: Al Rayyan survived a scoring draught in the third period and came out strong in the fourth to pull off a hard-fought 65-54 victory over Eljaish last night in their Emir Cup basketball game at the Al Gharafa Indoor Arena.
The reigning Heir Apparent Cup champions are thus a win away from notching the first finals birth in the Emir Cup.
Behind 15-19 in the first period, Eljaish got off to a strong start in the second quarter and wrested the upper hand (29-28) after 4 minutes of play behind the relentless efforts of veteran Mohammed Bakir and the wily Fadi Abilmona.
Al Rayyan came back behind Yaseen Mousa to keep a 45-41 advantage at halftime.
Guns got rusty in the third and with shackling defence thrown at each other, the count stood at 53-50 after 30 minutes of play as both teams fell short of a double-digit output in the period.
Fadi gave Army the lead, 54-53, at the onset of the final canto with a lay-up over the outstretched arms of Jeremeo Davidson.
Erfan Saeed capped an 8-1 Rayyan assault with an under-goal stab with 90 seconds remaining to pull his team to a 61-54 advantage.
Elaish went scoreless in the ensuing plays and Davidson and Tanguy Ngombo split their gift shots off desperation fouls in the dying seconds to seal the win.
Meanwhile, Al Sadd had an easy time against Al Arabi earlier in the first game to draw first blood in their own best-of-three series for a finals berth.
The reigning Qatar Men’s League champions, behind Antonio Anderson’s 33 big points, scored an 86-72 victory versus last year’s Heir Apparent Cup champions and need to win just one more game to enter the finals.
Al Sadd were in the lead throughout the match as Anderson was unstoppable from the field and Ibrahim Thomas lorded it over everyone inside while Michael Benjamin Southall and the rest of the crew patrolled the defensive end with impunity.
THE PENINSULA
