By Danotzki Santos
DOHA: Badly hurt by the debacle in the hands of Al Sadd last week, Abdullah Jalloh led Al Arabi to a big 85-66 win against Al Shamal, in the Qatar Basketball League (QBL) at the Al Gharafa Indoor Arena, yesterday.
Arabi started off with a fiery 13-2 opening assault and went on to finish the first period pulling away at 27-16.
Jalloh kept the Al Arabi juggernaut going in the next stages of the game as they soared to a 48-32 advantage at half-time and grabbed their biggest lead at 70-45 at the end of the third period.
Al Shamal played harder in the final quarter but could only manage to cut the deficit to 19 after 40 minutes of play.
Nevertheless, the result gives Al Arabi four wins and one loss, while Shamal slumped to their fourth defeat this season.
Meanwhile, Al Gharafa edged Qatar SC 84-75 in the other match yesterday.
Al Gharafa led throughout the match, 24-12 in the first quarter, 47-29 at half-time and 68-53 entering the final period.
Leslie Lamont began to hit his stride early in the fourth quarter and ignited Qatar’s 12-2 run to come to within five points at 65-70.
But Al Gharafa regrouped and fought back hard enough to maintain their lead until the final buzzer.
William Brandon had an explosive game for Al Gharafa scoring 24 and contributing to 13 assists.
Emanuel Awako helped with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Lamont led Qatar with 28 points while Omar Seck hauled 21 rebounds and chipped in with 24 points.
League hostilities resume tomorrow as Al Gharafa return to action versus Al Ahli at 5:00 pm.
Elsewhere, Al Rayyan hope to maintain their winning streak against a resurgent El Jaish.
THE PENINSULA
