Al Sadd player De La Rosa tries to score a basket while being challenged by Al Arabi player Rogers Mattew during their Emir Cup basketball match at Gharafa Indoor Stadium yesterday. RIGHT: Eljaish player Fadi Abilmona and Al Rayyan player Burston Matthew vie for the ball during their Emir Cup game at Gharafa Indoor Arena yesterday. Photo BY: Kammutty VP
by Danotzki Santos
Doha: Al Sadd came to the match riding high on a masterful domination of Al Arabi in their first game, and repeated over their foes, 79-74, in Game 2 last night at the Al Gharafa Indoor Arena to clinch the first finals berth in the the Emir Basketball Cup.
At the Al Gharafa Indoor Stadium yesterday, Al Sadd surged to a 12-8 lead halfway in the first period and pegged a 24-11 advantage behind Ibrahim Thomas’ 19 points with still 2 minutes left in the period.
The defending champions would pound harder to close the first period soaring high at 31-18 and kept the surge in the second quarter as the disorganized white shirts starved on the offensive end to trail by a mile, 33-48 at half time.
Al Arabi came pushing and managed to prune the black shirts’ lead at 58-47, with 4 minutes gone in the third but with inferior firepower the white shirts got buried deeper and stared at a 66-74 with the game clock reduced to 68 seconds.
Jalloh hit from long range coming off a time-out and made it 69-74.
Al Sadd would lose possession in the next offensive with time down to 41 seconds and Alvin Mofunanya sank a put back but missed the gift shot.
Thomas paced Al Sadd with 23 points. Michael Benjamin Southall and Rashad Anderson contributed 19 points each for the winners.
On the other hand, Eljaish held off Al Rayyan, 64-55, earlier in the evening to forge a 1-1 deadlock in their best-of-three series and force a rubber match tomorrow.
Ali Turki Ali and Fadi Abilmona combined for 22 markers in the first half alone to push Army to a 40-31 lead in the first 20 minutes of the game.
Mohammed Bakir made it a nine-point lead at the start of the third and Ali buried successive jumpers as Eljaish established their biggest lead, 47-31.
The well-rested Fadi was sent back in midway in the period with the white shirts making a headway and eventually completing a 13-3 run that chopped the deficit before the start of the final period at 44-50. Al Rayyan, who missed the services of the injured Harold Boney Watson, inched closer to 47-50 as the final period began but Fadi and Ali joined forces once again in igniting an 8-2 counter-offensive that gave Eljaish some breathing space at 58-49 with the game approaching the homestretch.
The reigning Heir Apparent champions crawled back in contention at 53-60 with 2:40 in the game clock but Antonio Anderson hit back-to-back twinners in the ensuing plays to nail the win for Army.The Peninsula
