Basketball preview:
Al Rayyan get set for Qatar Sports Club in round two
By Danotzki Santos
DOHA: Defending champions Al Rayyan today take on Qatar Sports Club in round two of the Qatar Men’s Basketball League that kicked-off last week.
Also today at the Al Rayyan Indoor Arena, Al Wakra battle league newcomers Al Shamal in the opening match of the day.
Coach Brian Rawsom and his charges are coming out of a record-breaking 105-40 blowout of the northerners on Tuesday and are looking to join Al Sadd, Eljaish and Al Arabi at the top of the league standings.
On the other hand, Qatar SC will try to bounce back from an 88-68 loss at the hands of Al Arabi in their first outing last week.
The Al Wakra-Al Shamal match promises to be a close fight as both teams are eyeing for their first win this season.
Al Wakra aim to shrug off a heart-breaking 67-65 loss to Al Sadd in their second outing while Al Shamal will be aiming to redeem themselves from miserable showing last week.
Earlier in the week, Eljaish grabbed their second win at the expense of Al Gharafa. With his team trailing 53-52 after three quarters, Fadi Abilmona was summoned back to the game in the final quarter and he helped his team to a 15-0 assault en route to a 76-64 final score.
Both squads fought tooth and nail in the first period exchanging leads before Al Gharafa closed out the first 10 minutes with a single basket advantage at 21-19.
Coach Hatem’s boys played harder in the second quarter and raced to a 6-point advantage, 37-31, behind the efforts of Abdulrahman Saad.
Eljaish crawled back via 7-2 run and came to within 1 point before spitfire Ali Abdullah gave Al Gharafa some breathing space at 41-38 on a strong drive to the basket beating the half-time buzzer.
Eljaish pulled ahead 44-41 in the first 3 minutes of the third quarter but Al Gharafa came back with an 8-4 flurry to regain the lead at 49-48 and stayed in control of the game after 3 periods.
THE PENINSULA
