By Danotzki Santos
DOHA: Defending champions Al Rayyan notched their fifth win this season against Eljaish, who proved to be a hard nut to crack in the Qatar Basketball League (QBL) at Al Gharafa Sports Stadium yesterday.
Al Rayyan were up against a determined Eljaish in the early quarter and banked on a strong push in the pay-off period to win 61-47.
Fadi Abilmonawas missed his shots but Mohammad Baker and the rest of his team-mates hit their stride early as they kept the defending champions within reach, 16-17, at the close of the first period.
Eljaish upped their tempo and pounded the boards at the start of the second quarter to rollout an 8-0 run and snatch the upper hand, to lead 24-17.
Boney Harold Watson broke Al Rayyan’s long silence with a basket but Ziad Guled replied back with a trey as the defending champions stayed in command at 27-19.
Al Rayyan took advantage and stepped on the gas to come back with an 8-2 surge to wrest the lead, 29-27, at half time.
Al Rayyan was dominant at the on set of the third and led 33-31 .
However, Abilmonawas kept the fire burning for Eljaish who paced to a 9-2 uprising to put his team ahead 40-35.
Brian Rowsom’s charges brought the game to another deadlock at 40-all.
Al Rayyan played better defence in the fourth period and Targuy Ngombo and Yaseen Mousa took over the scoring chores, and pegged a 55-45 advantage, with three minutes left to play.
In the other QBL game, Al Gharafa won 81-45 victory against Al Ahli.
The white shirts, led by Omar Salem, hardly flexed their muscles to claim their third win in five outings.
Salem’s side got into their playing rhythm against Al Ahli’s token resistance to get the game in the bag as early as the end of the third period when they grabbed 34 points at 64-30 during the game.
Nothing went Al Ahli’s way from the start as they helplessly let their foes to pull away outright 11-28 in the first period before getting buried further at 19-44 at the half.
Salem contributed with 23 points and 9 rebounds.
Al Sadd will try to snatch their fifth win today as they face Qatar SC, while Al Arabi lock horns against Al Wakrah.
THE PENINSULA
