Incheon: Qatar’s hopes of winning a basketball medal grew significantly after they prevailed over four-time Asian Games champions the Philippines in their opening quarter-final league match at the Hwaseong Sports Complex yesterday.
In an engaging encounter, Qatar overcame a 39-36 second quarter deficit before posting a comfortable 77-68 win in the end with Mohamed Yousuf and Boney Watson leading the charge with 19 and 15 points respectively.
Daoud Mousa scored 11 points and Saeed Irfan Ali had 10, while Jim Alapag was the top scorer for the Philippines with 15 points. Of Yousuf’s 19 points, nine came from three-pointers.
Qatar, who edged a tense match against Japan by just one point in their last preliminary match on Thursday, fell back as Philippines grabbed control of the match in the opening minutes to take a 9-6 lead.
By the end of the first quarter, however, Qatar managed to put their game together as they went into the second quarter on even keel at 19-19.
The Qatari attack failed to make much of an impression after that with the result that they soon lagged further behind with the Philippines nosing ahead 39-36 by the time the second quarter ended.
But in a stunning reversal of fortunes, Qatar stepped up their game a few notches to go on a scoring blitz when the third period began as they scored a whopping 20 points while restricting the Filipinos to just 12.
That proved key to the outcome of the match as Qatar were suddenly ahead 56-51 after an uninterrupted run of 12 points (39-51) that left the Philippines dispirited.
The fourth quarter was played in a somewhat similar pattern and despite the best efforts of the Filipinos, Qatar kept themselves comfortably ahead to nail the match with a fair bit to spare.
“We fell back in the beginning but the boys rallied brilliantly in the third quarter for a very important victory,” Qatar coach Vasileios said.
“Now we should keep our focus and not get carried away because we have a job to do,” the Greek added.
Top scorer Yousuf was also pleased with his show.
“It was a very important match and thanks to Allah I could make a valuable contribution,” he said.
“I hope to carry forward my form to Qatar’s next match also,” he added. Qatar captain Yaseen Musa, who has still not recovered fully from a shoulder injury, played almost nine minutes of the match but failed to score a single point.
However, he still managed to prove he hasn’t lost any of his touch by excelling in a defensive role.
Meanwhile, in another match in Qatar’s group, South Korea thrashed Kazakhstan 77-60, the hosts hardly giving their rivals to catch up after taking a 20-12 lead at the end of the first quarter of the game.
Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Gvrilov topped the scoring charts for either side with 17 points, while Oh Sekeun excelled for the hosts with 16. In the other group, Iran proved they are strong contenders after thrashing Japan 82-59.
Today, Qatar take on Kazakhstan, while South Korea meet the Philippines. Two teams from each group in the quarter-final round robin league will make the last four. QOC
