Qatar Basketball

El Jaish cagers rally to retain Emir’s Cup

The Jeish team defend well against Al Gharafa and avenge for 2013-14 loss

Defending champions El Jaish brought in Al Arabi Club coach Hatem Mamlouk for the Emir’s Cup Basketball Championship and their move turned out to be a masterstroke with the army team managing to defend the title with a 73-63 victory against Al Gharafa Club on Friday.

This was the third straight final showdown of the premier event on the Qatar Basketball Federation’s calendar for El Jaish and it was played at the home of three-time winners Al Gharafa Club.

With El Jaish packing the hall with more supporters, the army team, despite a slow start, worked hard through guards Fadi Hani Abilmona and Mansour Atif Elhadary, holding themselves together for a fighting victory.

The triumph was worth QR1 million for El Jaish, while Koussay Hatem-tutored Al Gharafa Club, who had never lost the Emir’s Cup final in previous appearances, had to be content with QR550,000.

QBF President Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman al Thani presented the awards. Also present on the occasion were Brazilian Basketball Confederation head Carlos Nunes and representatives of sponsors Salam Internationals and IBQ.

Centre Vernon Leon Macklin was the highest scorer for the champions with 18. Guard Adamu Saaka earned 15, forward Ali Turki Ali netted 12 and Abilmona gathered 11.

Forward Emmanuel Adako posted a match-high figure of 22 points for Al Gharafa and point guard Kevin Galloway (19 points and 12 rebounds) had the only double-double of the match but it proved futile.

This was the fourth clash of the season between the two sides. Al Gharafa had clinched two clashes in the League but the army team hit back to pocket the third-place playoff. And tonight, they proved a better side again and evened the win-loss record against Al Gharafa

El Jaish and Al Gharafa players could not find their range, which limited the scoring. Their best scoring runs gained them six points each in the first quarter and they improved it to eight in the next. They led and struck back in turns, which left Al Gharafa leading by a point at the interval (37-36).

However, El Jaish improved the scoring a bit in the third quarter and two back-to-back three-pointers at 42-20 by Saaka and Abilmona sent them eight points clear and more importantly on the way to the victory.

Then Al Gharafa tried to claw their way back into the game and ran into foul problems, which helped El Jaish stick out their neck out of water and scrape out the triumph.

El Jaish coach Mamlouk was speechless and thanked god for being able to live up to the faith that the club management put into him. Captain Abilmona said, “This is the biggest basketball competition in Qatar. To win it two times in two years is even more amazing for me.

“Though we the entered semis of the League and Qatar Cup, we could not do as well as we wanted. But we finished the season on a high and retained the Emir’s Cup, which is incredible. I want to thank my god, teammates and the new coach for this success,” added the point guard.

This win also soothed some of the pain for El Jaish, who had lost the 2013-14 Emir’s Cup final to Al Gharafa. Their big man Macklin was also delighted with the victory and said, “We came out here to play together and fight as one unit. This helped us win the second Emir’s Cup back to back. It’s just wonderful.

“The coach had prepared a great plan. We all stuck together and worked on some specifics to pull it off,” added the centre.

Al Gharafa coach Hatem said his team lost the way when Hassino Ndoye could not play up to the hopes. “It was a close final. We played good at the defence but our attack was not as strong. Hassino had a bad day and as a result, our system collapsed.

“Anyway, we have the consolation of reaching the finals of the two major events and hopefully, we’ll have a better luck next season,” added the Iraqi coach.

Result

Result

El Jaish beat Al Gharafa Club 73-63 (halftime 36-37)

Main performers – El Jaish: Vernon Leon Macklin 18, Adamu Saaka 15, Ali Turki Ali 12, Fadi Hani Abilmona 11

Al Gharafa Club: Emmanuel Adako 22, Kevin Galloway 19 & 12 rebounds

Teams –

El Jaish: Mansour Atif Elhadary 0, *Adamu Saaka 1, Dieng Babacar 2, Saeed Ibrahim al Malki 5, *Fadi Hani Abilmona 6, *Ali Turki Ali 9, Jouad Kouraty 20, *Vernon Leon Macklin 22, Babcar Ngom 23, Khalid Mohamed Abdrabbo 25, Aladji Bobo Magassa 26, * Mohd Yousuf Mohammed 33

Head Coach: Hatem Mamlouk (Tunisia)

Al Gharafa Club: *Abdulrahman Mohamed Saad 4, Nedim Muslic 5, Mohammed Mahmoud Nayef 6, Feisal Mohammed Esmaeili 7, *Hassino Ndoye 8, Raslan Rashid al Abdulla 10, Salama Ali Seleem El Sakka 12, * Kevin Galloway 13, *Emmanuel Adako 14, *Omar Abdelkader Salem 15

Head Coach: Koussay Hatem (Iraq); Assistant Coach: Yasser Abdul Waab

(* first five team players)