BY Danotzki Santos
DOHA: Alioune Ndoye hit an outside bomb that gave Eljaish a pulsating 73-71 victory over arch rivals Al Arabi last night in the Qatar Basketball League at the Al Gharafa Indoor Arena, yesterday.
With Eljaish trailing at 68-70, Ndoye lifted his team back in the driver’s seat with 1:35 left in the game.
With game clock winding down to 12 seconds, Eljaish sealed the win with a follow-up against a phalanx of defenders on a team mate’s missed attempt.
A highly-charged physical battle from tip-off, Al Arabi took the starting period, 25-18.
Eljaish unleashed a suffocating defence in the second quarter to come at 36-34.
The Heir Apparent champions put on a 6-2 run led by the relentless Jalloh Abdullah at the onset of the third to up their lead to 46-36 but Mohammad Bakir and Fadi Abilmona combined for a 12-4 retaliation to keep Army breathing down at Arabi’s necks.
Jalloh and company managed to keep a hairline 56-55 advantage after 30 minutes of play.
With their swarming defence clicking once more and Bakir and Ndoye scoring the points, Eljaish took command early in the fourth quarter, and held on to a 66-62 lead with 3:54 to play.
Mansour Elhadary then took the floor and ignited an 8-2 surge to give Arabi back the lead at 70-68, before Ndoye starred in a 5-1 wind up to give his team their fifth win in the seven outings.
Elsewere, Al Rayyan escaped with a 65-62 hard-earned victory over Al Gharafa to raise their streak to six straight win this season.
THE PENINSULA
