Al Shamal’s Alvin Mofunanya (right) goes for a basket during the Qatar Basketball League game against Al Ahli yesterday. PICTURE: Nasar TK

By Sports Reporter/Doha


Alvin Mofunanya scored 22 points and Kamal Hachad and Faris Avdic chipped in with 20 and 20, respectively, as Al Shamal posted a 72-68 win over Al Ahli in the Qatar Basketball League yesterday.
Al Ahli managed to stay ahead, albeit narrowly, for most part of the match but Al Shamal staged a fine rally in the final quarter to turn the tables on their rivals.
It was anybody’s game in the final 10 minutes after Al Ahli had taken a 49-48 lead after the third quarter, but they couldn’t make much headway into the Al Shamal defence when it mattered most, scoring just 19 points.
Al Shamal, on the other hand, saved their best for the last and scored 24 points to overtake Al Ahli clinch an unlikely win.
Lamar Demond top-scored in the match with 23, including 12 from three-pointers, but still ended up on the losing side. Jimmy Williams with 21 and Elhadj Seydou with 19 also excelled for the losers.
Statistically there was precious little to choose between the two teams, but the fact that Al Shamal had 12 second chance points while Ahli only had five tipped the balance in the winners’ favour.
In the second match of the day, the trio of Erfan Ali Saeed, Saad Abdulrahman Ali and Michael Brandon Provost propelled Al Sadd to a 78-68 win over El Jaish.
Saeed scored 19 points, while Ali and Provost pitched in with 18 and 16 points respectively in the win.
For Jaish, Alex Charles Legion topped the scoresheets with 19 points, while Vernon Leon Macklin added 15.
Jaish showed character early on when a 12-point scoring run turned a 5-13 deficit to a four-point advantage.
But consistent scoring by Sadd players kept the game out of reach for Jaish, who led for a little under five minutes in all.