Doha: Al Rayyan’s bid to make a clean sweep of the local 2015-2016 season came unstuck yesterday after they were beaten by El Jaish 2-0 in their best-of-three Emir Cup semi-finals.
After convincingly bagging the Qatar Basketball League and Qatar Cup titles, Al Rayyan were overwhelming favourites for a rare treble, but El Jaish ruined their hopes with an 87-81 win yesterday following on from their 87-80 victory in the first match on Tuesday. Al Rayyan held the upper hand for the first two quarters with narrow leads, but the tide turned decisively in the third period when El Jaish produced a brilliant purple patch to score a whopping 33 points.
That gave them a 66-51 lead with 10 minutes remaining, and although Al Rayyan came up with a last-gasp effort, scoring 24 points, El Jaish were far too ahead to be threatened in any way. Leon Macklin was the man behind El Jaish’s victory with a match-high 39 points, while Adamu Saaka and Turki Ali scored 14 and 10 respectively.
For Al Rayyan, Lawrence Hill was the top scorer with 17 points, while Alban Ngombio and Salem Abdulla had 14 and 12 respectively.
Earlier, the powerful troika of Dwayne Galloway, Osaro Adako and Hassino Ndoye were on song again as Al Gharafa posted a 63-52 win over Al Sadd to storm into the final.
Al Sadd needed a win to stay alive in their three-game semi-final series after losing the opener 75-57 on Tuesday, but Al Gharafa had other ideas as they earned themselves an extra day of practice ahead of  the final on April 22 where they take on El Jaish.
In a gritty, low-scoring match, Al Gharafa ensured they always stayed in front, even though the lead they enjoyed was marginal (32-28) up to the halfway stage. It was only in the third quarter that Al Gharafa’s all-round prowess came into play. They not only scored 18 points, but restricted al Sadd to a mere nine to take a decisive 50-37 lead from which Al Sadd failed to recover.
A further 13 points by Al Gharafa in the final period meant Al Sadd were well and truly beaten despite the nine-point margin of the defeat.
Adako and Galloway had 15 points for the winners, with the latter also providing four assists and six turnovers. Ndoye had three assists and four steals in his 14.
For Al Sadd, Nathaneal Williams scored 21 points with a trio of three-pointers, while Deba Kone chipped in with 14.