Doha: A brilliant team-effort from El Jaish made sure that the Soldiers reign supreme when they defeated Al Gharafa Club 72-63 in the Emir’s Cup Basketball Championship final which was played at the Al Gharafa Indoor Stadium yesterday afternoon.
With yesterday’s win, the soldiers, under the watchful eyes of their new and aggressive coach Hatem Mamlouk, made it a double, securing their winning streak in the prestigious tournament. For the runner-up Al Gharafa, it was the first time they lost a final after reaching the finals on three previous occasions.
Al Gharafa took a slight lead at the end of the first quarter with 21 points on board against 20 of El Jaish. The second quarter was a head to head battle with both teams adding 16 points each. But El Jaish, who were in their third Emir’s Cup final in a row, were not giving up easily and managed to add 16 more points in the third quarter while Al Gharafa struggled with finding the net. Gharafa were only able to score 10 points in the third quarter.
The five-point lead was enough for El Jaish to put more pressure on Al Gharafa as they went on to add 20 more points in the fourth and final quarter in contrast to 16 which were netted by Al Gharafa Club, giving the final result of 72-63 in favour of El Jaish.
El Jaish’s star player Vernon Macklin made the highest contribution to the winners when he netted 18 points while making nine rebounds and three assists. Adamu Saaka (15), Fadi Hani Abilmona (11) and Ali Turki Ali (12) also helped the winners.
For Al Gharafa, Emmanuel Osarko Adako scored an impressive 22 points andsix rebounds while Kevin Galloway collected 19 points, making 12 rebounds and four assists, but their efforts were not enough to avoid El Jaish win.
The Emir Cup champions bagged QR1m while the runner-up Al Gharafa walked away with QR550,000 as the premier event on the Qatar Basketball Federation’s domestic calendar.
The Peninsula
