Qatar Basketball

El Jaish clinch QBF League

The army team stays unbeaten, gift the trophy to their basketball head Obaidly on his birthday
Forward Vernon Leon Macklin collected a rich haul of 38 points and fired El Jaish to translate their determination to present their long-serving basketball head Mohammed al Obaidly with the QBF League crown as the birthday gift at the Al Gharafa Club Indoor Hall on Friday.
In the last game of the League, the army fended off a gritty Al Gharafa Club 74-65 after trailing by seven points at one stage. This was their 18th victory in a row this season. And if their three matches that they won en route to the Emir’s Cup last season are added, the streak goes to 21 successive games!
With this result, El Jaish ended their eight-year-long wait for the League title. In the 2007-08 season, they had claimed their only crown. Al Gharafa also bagged the League once in 2013-14.
El Jaish’s win also added to personal glory of their point guard Dominic James Davon. He was a member of the Al Rayyan Club, whose two out of 17 titles had come in the past two seasons.
QBF President Ahmed Abdulrahman al Muftah and Secretary-General Ali al Malki were present with other federation officials and honoured the winners and runners-up teams. Al Arabi Club finished in the third place.
American 208-cm forward Macklin had 14 out of 19 shots in, besides using all the 10 free offers from the charity stripe. Point guards Dominic (13 points and eight rebounds, captain Fadi Hani Abilmona (13 points, eight rebounds and four assists) and Mandout Atif Elhadary exchanged their roles well to keep the team rolling along during tough moments.
The trio also got commendable support from centre Mohammed Yousuf Mohammed and shooting forward Erfan Ali Saeed. The pair, along with Macklin, piled pressure on the Al Gharafa Club players, especially their key player power forward Sammy Monroe Jr, after the interval. The move by coach Hatem Mamlouk paid well and El Jaish were able to shake off the rivals whenever the latter threatened them.
El Jaish began with a flourish and produced a 9-0 run in the opening quarter. But later, they tried to deploy three small men – Dominic, Abilmona and Elhadary. Besides, they resorted to outside shooting more than making attempts to drive the ball in. This ploy favoured Al Gharafa, who had a 7-0 sequence that got them to 9-12, pulled seven points clear 37-30).
But a change in tactics by Mamlouk again by pressing in three tall players – Macklin, Saeed and Mohammed, El Jaish managed to stall the opponents. El Jaish, who had traded the lead with five times earlier, utilised their scoring opportunities in the post interval more and kept the rival under stress, before clinching the victory.
Al Gharafa, who had lost their game to El Jaish in the first phase, were on a 14-game winning streak. They required to win today’s match to force a play-off. But they did not succeed.
Macklin commented, “We just played hard. The coach and management asked us to play hard and a team. Al Gharafa have got some good players. They have good coaches. So we knew we’d have to play on the top.
“There is no secret behind our 18 wins in a row. We have a great coach and we just love to play tough,” added Macklin.
A pleased and proud captain Fadi said after the match: “We had been fed up with winning the silver and bronze medals. We just wanted the gold medal this time. Right from the Day 1, we’d been focused and determined. We wanted to shine and we just worked hard for the dream to win it for our basketball head Obaidly. His commitment and care for us are unparallel.
“We’re glad that we managed to pull it off. It wasn’t easy at all. Al Gharafa had been playing as well as we’d been doing. So we knew that it would be a tough game. But we broke through their resistance after the interval.
“I want to thank everybody who contributed to this win. Also we want to thank previous coach Dragoslav (Milovanovic), who shaped the team for so many years,” added Abilmona.
Davon said, “It’s an amazing feeling to have won three titles in a row. I’ve got a lot of respect for all the teams. I feel Al Gharafa are a great team. But we began working hard even before the season. We just prepared ourselves in a way that we could come out on the court and play our best basketball in each match.
“There are a lot of things achieved through this victory. It was the third title for me. For the team, it was second League crown. Macklin just played brilliantly. He was the real MVP of the match,” added Davon.
Al Gharafa Club coach Koussay Hatem was disappointed that his main player Monroe was not being allowed to play to his potential. “Sammy is a strong player. He loves to perform but unfortunately, the teams are not being fair to let him play.
“We did extremely well before the interval. But later, we could not get going. Some of our players took the match as a friendly game. They did not take it seriously. Now we have the Qatar Cup and Emir Cup. Hopefully, we’ll do something to overcome this setback,” said Hatem.

Result
El Jaish beat Al Gharafa Club 74-65
First quarter – 19 18
Second quarter – 39 41
Third quarter – 56-52
Fourth quarter – 74 65

Main performers – El Jaish: Vernon Leon Macklin 38 pts, Davon James Dominic 13 pts, Fadi Hani Abilmona 13 pts

Al Gharafa Club: Sammy Monroe Jr 24 pts & 12 rebounds, Wayne Alexander Arnold Jr 14 pts, Hassino Ndoye 13 pts