A player of Eljaish attempts to score a point against Al Rayyan during their match of the Qatar Basketball League at Al Gharafa Indoor Arena, yesterday. Al Rayyan trounced Eljaish 69-62.
By Danotzki Santos
Doha: Al Sadd edged past Al Arabi to pull off a 74-70 hard-earned victory in the first game of their best-of-three semi-final showdown in the Qatar Basketball League at the Al Gharafa Indoor Arena here yesterday.
In the second match, Al Rayyan trounced Eljaish 69-62.
Yesterday proceedings in the Al Arabi-Al Sadd match began with the prolific duo of Abdulai Jalloh and Alvin Mofunanya drawing first blood to grab the upper hand early in the game but Chris dela Rosa and Thomas Ibrahim helped Al Sadd peg a 17-all logjam.
The Heir Apparent champions unleashed a 9-3 spurt for 26-20 advantage midway in the second period.
Jalloh anchored a 10-4 blast to give the redshirts a 12-point cushion at 34-22, with 1:40 before the halftime break but Mousa Daoud strung up a couple of baskets to spearhead a quick 12-3 counter-offensive that lifted Al Sadd back in the game at 34-37 after two quarters.
Daoud continued to wax hot in the third quarter and combined with Saad Abdulrahman to get the Emir Cup winner’s in the driver’s seat to stay on top at 57-55 going into the final stage of the match.
After five minutes of fierce battle and several lead changes, Al Sadd’s Chris dela Rosa helped his team to take a 68-64 lead.
In the other match, defending champions Al Rayyan moved a game away to clinching a finals berth as they trounced Eljaish, in the first game of their own other best-of-three series.
Al Rayyan outplayed Army from the start, easily taking the upper hand, 25-16 in the first period, 45-30 at the halftime before settling down to a 60-39 advantage at the end of the third quarter.
Eljaish, playing sans ace playmaker and number one scorer Fadi Abilmona, visibly struggled in the early stages of the match and barely got their game going only in the final half.
Boney Harold Watson topscored with 19 points. Ace-gunner Targuy Ngombo contributed 16 points while Yaseen Mousa and Suleiman Braimoh each had 11 points.
Turki Ali carried the scoring for Army with 16 points. Steve Noubisse chipped in 16 points and hauled down 11 rebounds.
The semifinal duels resume tomorrow. THE PENINSULA
