Sheikh Khalid bin Ali (right) member of the Executive Board of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) hands over the winning trophy to Al Sadd players and officials after beating Al Rayyan in the Qatar Basketball League title match. RIGHT: Al Sadd players celebrate their victory. PICTURES BY: KAMMUTTY VP
by Danotzki Santos
DOHA: Al Sadd pulled off a masterful dominance of powerhouse Al Rayyan in their do-or-die finals showdown to clinch their first ever Qatar Basketball League (QBL) championship at the Al Gharafa Indoor Arena, yesterday.
Coach Dejan Tomic’s wards outgunned their counterparts in the endgame to run away with a nail-biting 69-64 victory that gave the club its first QBL title since its birth 32 years ago.
Al Sadd’s Abdulrahman connected on a trey to push Al Sadd to a 68-64 advantage, with 31 seconds left in the game and Salman pulled a heist in the ensuing possession to keep Al Sadd at bay with 18 seconds remaining in the game.
With Al Sadd down 1-7 midway in the first period, Thomas Ibrahim and Salman combined to push the Emir Cup champions to within a basket, 7-9.
Internationalist Tanguy Ngombo would then join hands with Harold Boney Watson and veteran Erfan Saeed to pummel the defending champions to 19-9 lead as time went down to 2:15 in the period.
Aside from Michael Southall’s twinner inside the paint, Al Sadd’s guns went silent there on while Ngombo and Erfan continued the Rayyan onslaught that got the black shirts soaring away 27-15 after ten minutes of play.
With Southall forced to leave the floor on foul trouble at the onset of the second period, Mousa Daoud took charge and spearheaded an 11-4 surge to get Al Sadd to a manageable deficit, 26-31.
Al Rayyan woke up in time and came back with a string of fast break points making it 35-26 before Daoud and Abdulrahman each connected on outside bombers to keep Al Sadd closer at 31-25.
Watson sank a put back in the ensuing play and later fed Ngombo who beat the halftime buzzer with a trey for a 40-31 count at halftime.
Suleiman Braimoh broke the ice in the third canto with successive twinners inside the paint towing Al Rayyan farther away at 45-31 before Southall and company managed a couple of baskets for a 45-35 count.
Behind fierce battles for ball possessions and exchange of baskets, Daoud and Al Sadd masterminded a 15-7 attack to threaten their foes, 50-52, with 1:45 left in the period.
Watson would however lead his teammates to a 6-1 run to cap the quarter with Al Rayyan still ahead, 56-53. Al Sadd came out blazing in the final period and unleashed a 6-0 early assault to wrest the lead for the first time, 59-56.
Braimoh scored inside and Abdulrahman retaliated with a trey to make it 62-58 before Watson made it closer with a jumper, 62-60, with 3:29 to go in the game.
Salman cashed in on long bomb after a Southall’s split at the foul lane but Watson brought the defending champions closer, 66-64. Al Sadd were coming off a twin of hard-earned wins against their Al Arabi, running away with 74-70 and 82-81 sweep of their semifinal opponents to arrange a finals showdown with the defending champions and powerhouse Al Rayyan who in turn survived El Jaish, 69-62 and 62-58, in their own series.
The 32nd season of the QBL concluded with El Jaish clinching third place after beating Al Arabi (4th), 73-62, earlier this week.
THE PENINSULA
