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Al Sadd, Al Rayyan arrange Emir Cup finals showdown
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16 Apr 2012
- Written by Danotzki Santos
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Al Sadd and Al Rayyan beat their rivals in contrasting fashion last night in Game 4 of their respective best-of-five semifinal battles in the Emir Cup to clinch their third win and arrange a do-or-die finals showdown on Friday.
In the first game, Al Sadd clamped down on defense and shackled Al Arabi’s big men in the shaded area in the final period to register a 73-58 rout of their rivals.
Michael Southall, named best player of the game, got off to a hot start helping Al Sadd post an early 8-6 lead. William Byrd took his turn midway the first period and rallied his team back to a 20-14 advantage.
At the onset of the second period, Djibril Abdoulaye combined with Mousa Daoud to ignite a 13-5 scoring blitz placing Al Sadd back in the driver seat at 27-25, and eventually soaring away, 40-30, before the half time break.
Al Arabi’s Shelton Colwell lorded it over the paint in Southall’s absence and pushed his team to within seven, 39-46, early in the third period but Alvin Mofunanya could not get his inside game going allowing to hold on to the lead 54-46 before the final period.
In the main game, both teams played good defense at the onset with Al Gharafa getting the better from a slow start and led 17-16, in the first period.
Erfan Saeed, with a little help from the wily Chauncey Leslie took charge in the second period to spearhead a 12-2 attack putting Al Rayyan way ahead, 28-19, and finishing the first half with a comfortable 37-27 advantage.
Al Gharafa surged back in contention midway in the third, closing in at 41-44 but the Qatar Men’s League champions doused the foes efforts to cling on to the lead 53-45 at the end of the third canto, and 62-52, halfway in the final period.
The reigning champions put on mighty stand in the endgame but came up short as Coach Brian Rowsom’s charges kept their composure to prevail, 80-71, and formalize their march to finals.
The Emir Cup basketball games can be seen live on Al Dawri Al Kass TV and via the internet through www.qatarbasketball.qa webcast.
The organizers invite the public to grace the games and earn chance to be picked out and shoot for QR 10,000, QR 500 and QR 300 from the midcourt line, 3-point arc and the foul throw lane, respectively.
Al Arabi, Al Rayyan score wins in Emir Cup semis
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14 Apr 2012
- Written by Danotzki Santos
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Al Arabi pulled out a convincing 86-67 victory over Al Sadd in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal showdown in the Emir Cup last night to keep their hopes alive for a finals berth.
The Heir Apparent champions played steady basketball after the halftime break to hold on to a 67-59 lead at the end of the third period and pounded the boards at the onset of the final period to unleash a 19-8 assault and run away with the much needed win.
Michael Southall and Yousif Mohamed started hot and gave Al Sadd an early 15-13 advantage with both big men beating their counterparts off the boards and scored at will inside the paint.
Al Arabi fought back in the remainder of the first period as Mansour Elhadary and Jalloh Abdullah found their range from the outside to equalize at 24-all after 10 minutes of play.
Shelton Colwell took over as Southall was forced to sit it out after picking up his second foul early in the second period, and combined with William Byrd and Alvin Mofunanya to dominate the shaded area and pad Al Arabi’s lead, 45-38, before the mid-game ceasefire.
Earlier in the other semifinal match, Chauncey Leslie hit a long trey and Erfan Saeed added one from the stripe in the dying seconds to lift Al Rayyan past Al Gharafa, 75-73.
With the score tied at 71-all after Boney Watson sank a twinner from the baseline forty-five seconds left in the game, Leslie extricated himself off a double screen and released a high looper from the three-point arc hitting nothing but net that gave the redshirts a 74-71 cushion in the endgame.
Watson drove strong to the basket for two in the ensuing play to push the reigning champions to within one, 73-74, and Omar Salem gave up a quick foul on Erfan Saeed who split his charities giving Al Rayyan a two-point advantage with 12 seconds to go.
Targuy Ngombo capped his stellar showing with a block on Oussay Ndiaye in Al Gharafa’s last offensive before Suleiman Braimoh got an open shot from the rainbow territory that almost went.
Coach Brian Rowsom and his boys are now ahead 2-1 and are looking to get the series wrapped up with another victory on Monday.
The Emir Cup basketball games can be seen live on Al Dawri Al Kass TV and via the internet through www.qatarbasketball.qa webcast.
The organizers invite the public to grace the games and earn chance to be picked out and shoot for QR 10,000, QR 500 and QR 300 from the midcourt line, 3-point arc and the foul throw lane, respectively.
Al Gharafa tie series with Al Rayyan, Al Sadd repeat over Al Arabi
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12 Apr 2012
- Written by Danotzki Santos
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Al Gharafa extricated themselves from a 23-24 halftime deficit with a thunderous 19-2 scoring barrage in the third period to romp up a hard-earned 71-62 series-equalizing victory over Al Rayyan in the main game of Emir Cup semifinals last night.
Oussey Ndiaye and Suleiman Braimoh combined for 42 points of the defending champions output as Boney Watson capped his game long brilliance with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.
Coach Koussay Hatem thus brought his team to 1-1 deadlock with their rivals in the semifinal series which goes to a race to 2 more wins starting Saturday.
In the other series played earlier, Al Sadd gunners punctured the hoops all game long to assert their mastery of Al Arabi, 99-86, and pull away with a 2-0 advantage in their own best-of-five semifinals showdown.
Saad Abdulrahman shot five out of five and Dauod Mousa went five of seven from the outside in the first half to pump Al Sadd up ahead, 26-16 in the first period and 54-42 before half time break.
Coach Zoran Kreckovic’s charges kept their flawless offensive assault going at the start of the third behind Jason Fontenet and soared to their biggest lead, 69-46, midway in the period before Michael Southall took his fourth foul and was forced to ride the bench.
Without Al Sadd’s prized centre Al Arabi’s big men made a dent in the inside lane for the remainder of the third period and managed to prune the deficit, 61-76.
In the final period, Coach Hatem Mamlouk’s boys pushed hard on defense and inched closer 76-83 behind Jalloh Abdullah and Shelton Colwell.
But the effort proved short as Al Sadd’s wily point guard Fontenet and Khalid Suliman unleashed back-to-back long bombers to keep their rivals at bay 94-83 going into the dying minutes even as they lost two key players, Southall and Abdulrahman, on five personal fouls.
Al Rayyan, Al Sadd take Semis Game 1
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10 Apr 2012
- Written by Danotzki Santos
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Erfan Saeed saw action in the third period but came out blazing with a 15-point production in 12 minutes he was in the ballgame to pull Al Rayyan out from a 38-39 deficit to an 87-79 rousing victory over defending champions Al Gharafa in the first game of their best-of-five semifinal series in the Emir Cup last night .
Saeed, who missed out the first two periods, was fielded in after the halftime break and combined with the returning Targuy Ngombo and Yaseen Mousa to overwhelm their rivals on the offensive end, 25-12, and thereby gain the upperhand before the final period at 63-51.
Al Gharafa was looking good in the early going with Omar Salem waxing hot to give his team a 24-23 advantage in the first quarter and stay on top at the end of the second. Salem’s sterling 12-point, 3-rebound first half production eclipsed the return to action of Al Rayyan’s ace gunner Targuy Ngombo, who himself led his team’s stand with 13 points and 3 assists in the first 20 minutes of the game.
But fortunes switched as Saeed entered the game, as Coach Brian Rowsom allowed his prolific triumvirate to dictate the tempo of the game and silence the guns of their counterparts in the remainder of the match.
Ngombo topscored for Al Rayyan, De Von Hardin added 13 and Mousa had 12. Salem finished with 15 for Al Gharafa, managing a solitary trey in the second half, akin to the rest of his team’s shooting average in the final 20 minutes of the game.
In the other semifinals match, Daoud Mousa hit back-to-back triples with under three minutes left in the game and Al Arabi ahead, 63-62, before Michael Southall capped his game-long dominance with a put back and a slam that helped Al Sadd escape with a 72-65 thriller against the Heir Apparent champions.
Al Arabi took an early lead, 15-4 and held on to a 22-13 first quarter advantage as Coach Hatem Mamlouk’s wards limited Southall’s touches on the basketball.
Doaud and Khalid Suliman sparked a 16-0 run in the second period to give Al Sadd the upper hand, 29-22 en route to a 37-31 lead before the halftime break.
Al Arabi, outrun and outdone in the paint in the first two periods took it strong in the inside at the onset of the third period to inch closer 42-43 behind Alvin Mofunanya who sparked his team to an 11-6 blitz.
With Jason Fontenet taking command at the point Al Sadd kept their composure and held on to their lead, 55-52 before the start of the final period.
Al Arabi grabbed the lead back and seemed on their way to snatch the win six minutes into the last quarter as Mofunanya and William Byrd dominated the paint with Southall nursing his fourth foul until Daoud save the day for Al Sadd.
Al Arabi, Al Rayyan advance to Emir Cup semifinals
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08 Apr 2012
- Written by Qatar Basketball Federation
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Coach Hatem Mamlouk led Al Arabi to a masterful domination of Erik Rashad and his wards last night to clinch their third straight win and advance to the semifinal round of the Emir Cup.
The HH Heir Apparent champions led throughout and finished the game with an impressive 92-77 victory over El Jaish.
Starting strong behind spitfire Mansour Elhadary, Al Arabi went 12-11 at the onset and finished the first period, 23-15. Elhadary, going 5 out of 7 from the field early in the game, capped his sterling first half performance with a high of 18 points ushering his team to a 44-28 advantage before the break.
Al Arabi kept charging in the third and overpowered their counterparts on the offensive front to pull further away 69-47 before the final period.
Jalloh Abdullah spearheaded the onslaught at the start of the final period and combined with Shelton Colwell, Alvin Mofunanya and William Byrd to take over the scoring chores and push Al Arabi to their biggest lead, 84-57, with 4 minutes remaining in the game clock.
El Jaish took it strong on the inside in the final minutes and managed a 20-8 finishing kick to cut the deficit to 15 at the final buzzer.
Al Arabi, having topped Group I, will play Al Sadd in the best of five semifinals starting on Tueday while Al Gharafa battle Al Rayyan which coasted its way to an 88-65 rout of Qatar Sports Club in the second game.
The Qatar Men’s League champions led throughout and dominated their rivals in all departments posting 54 rebounds and 35 assists as against Qatar Club’s 28 and 11.
