Saad Al-Suwaidi
Doha, Qatar - Al Rayyan have been crowned the champions of 2019 HH the Amir's Cup for basketball, for the ninth time in history, after triumphing over Al Sadd 80-77 in the finals at the Al Gharafa Indoor Stadium.
The match began at a fast pace, with both teams scoring 19 points each and the first quarter all even. Al Rayyan were able to establish control, taking a 45-40 lead by the end of the second quarter, however a strong effort by Al Sadd brought them back into the game to lead by 2 points by the end of the 3rd quarter. In an entertaining final which saw the lead changing nine times, Al Rayyan’s Power Forward, Lenny McArthur Daniels, was the catalyst for his squad, as he came up with the decisive points in the final seconds of play, when he scored a crucial layup to seal the game against Al Sadd 80-77 to win the Amir Cup.
Lenny McArthur Daniels, who notched up a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds spoke about the readiness and the preparations of his team going in to the finals:
“We knew we could play with anybody. We came here in January, most of the imports, we weren’t here for the whole season. We needed some time to adjust, but we knew we had the best team, we just needed to come together , that’s all that was and that’s what we did today”.
Head Coach Erik Rashad spoke on the road leading Al Rayyan’s success: “We played with six players the entire year, nobody gave us a chance. We we’re the eighth team, the first time in history the eighth team comes to the top to take the gold medal”.
A solid defensive performance by Al Rayyan eventually helped them clinch the prestigious Cup.