DOHA: Shamal pulled off a stunning 62-58 upset win over Al Gharafa in the curtain raiser of the Qatar Basketball League at the Al Gharafa Indoor Arena, yesterday.
Shamal played better at the onset setting a 17 point cushion early at the end of the first period.
Mezie Nwigwe scored the hoops more in the second quarter and helped his team soar to their biggest advantage of 25 points at 34-9, halfway into the period.
Ousseynou Ndiaye and Rasheim Wright tried to pick up the pieces and pushed Al Gharafa a little closer to their rivals at 38-24 at half-time and eventually at 49-39 after three quarters of play.
Al Gharafa stepped on the gas in the final quarter but could not get any closer than 4 points to Al Shamal’s final 62 point output and finished the league with a 9-7 win-loss slate.
Shamal took their fourth win in 16 outings for a fair showing in their maiden year.
Meanwhile, Qatar SC must have adjusted to playing without ace import Lamont Leslie as they came out more determined this time as they outgunned a depleted Al Wakra quintet, 73-49.
Qatar SC took advantage of Ayeni Olatukombo’s absence and focused their energy in defending.
Qatar SC took command in all stages of the game, at 23-9 in the first period. By the end of the half they led 39-22, and by the end of the third it was 58-33. In the final quarter, Qatar SC led 65-43.
The blackshirts who were led by Moliva Eugene with 17 points, finished the league with a 4-12 win-loss card, while Wakra had 5 wins and 11 losses.
Preliminary round games conclude today as Al Arabi try to notch win number 11 when they go up against Al Ahli in the early match at 5:15pm.
While league leaders Al Rayyan and Al Sadd slug it out for the number one spot in the team rankings in the main game at 7:15pm, that takes place at Al Gharafa Sports Stadium today.
THE PENINSULA
