AILYN AGONIA DOHA

AL AHLI defeated Qatar Sports Club (QSC) 73-71 in a nail-biting match at the Heir Apparent Cup for basketball at Al Gharaffa Sports Hall on Wednesday.

QSC’s star player Soyebo Temie produced a matchhigh 37 big yet it was not enough to stop Ahli from recording the first victory in the group league.

Augustine Okusen and Cory Bradford contributed 21 and 19, respectively, to clinch the match for Ahli.

QSC started off strong in the early part of the first quarter with Soyebo, Moriz Dominique, Divide Ahmin leading their team. Their tight defense prevented their opponent from scoring and left them trailing by as much as eight points around midway of the first quarter. But Al Ahli stepped up its offence with Okusun contributing 8 points and later it managed to close up the gap. With two minutes left, it tied the scores at 16 and narrowly edged the rival to take 22-21 lead after the first quarter.

Due to an injury late into the first quarter, Ahmin who contributed 5 points for QSC had to be taken off the court.

The team then depended on Soyebo and Dominique at this point for getting points.

But they were not allowed much freedom and Ahli’s Augustine Okusun continued to dominate the painted area.

With the help of Cory Bradford and the rest of teammates, he wrapped up second quarter with a 42-34 advantage.

In the third quarter, QSC improved their offence and caught up with their opponent’s early lead. It earned a 3-point lead (55-52) with less than a minute before the end of the quarter. A 3-pointer from Soyebo and ally-op by Bryan Aguata widened the QSC’s lead to six points.

Another laste successful basket put QSC 60-52 ahead with only the final quarter left.

Both teams were aggressive and the scores were locked at 68-68 with only three minutes left in the match. Ahli was the first to pull away.

Mohd Youla Beka then scored a crucial 2-point basket and was fouled. He converted the free throw to change the story of the game to 73-68. A 3- point shot from Soyebo narrowed their lead before Qatar ran out of time.

In another match of the night, Al Rayyan routed Al Jaish 88-58 and clinched their second straight win in the tournament. It was a virtually romp for the red jersies as Leslie Chaucey scored 25 points.

Rayyan stormed to a 9-0 lead before Jaish scored its first point. Chaucey Leslie and Ngombo Alban headed the scoring spree of their team. Rayyan led by as many as 13 points in this quarter that ended with 23-8 score.

In the second quarter, Jaish tried to put pressure on their opponent through aggression.

Fadi Abilmona tried to lead the rally of his team by keeping pace with Rayyan’s cagers. But Rayyan was on a roll and went on to lead by 23 points at the halftime.

Jaish’s chances of closing up the difference were even more bleak in the third quarter.

Rayyan continued to control the game and made 14 fast break points to lead by 33 points at one stage. 70-43). In the final quarter, Rayyan maintained its edge and emerged as the 88-58 winner.

Top scorer for Rayyan was Chaucey, who scored 25 and collected five defensive rebounds. Targuy Alban had 15. Fadi Abilmona and Mohammed Tangara were the most successful scorers for the loser with 14 and 13 points, respectively.