Qatar Tribune
Al Gharafa Club turned around the first semi-final in the closing minutes and pulled off a thrilling 88-83 victory over runner-up Al Arabi Club in a chaotic finish in the QBF League at the home court on Saturday.
In the final on March 3 at 7 pm, Al Gharafa will take on holders Al Shamal Club, who cruised past Al Wakrah Club 79-63 with Michael Harris pulling off a double-double (22 points and 14 rebounds and Michael Efevberha getting 21 points. On the same day at 5 pm, Al Arabi and Al Wakrah will clash for the third-place hounours as well.
Al Arabi Club must be feeling dumbstruck after the match as they were leading by 19 points at one stage and were ahead by 13 points in the final quarter. A personal foul and the bench’s technical foul, following which Sammy Monroe sank all the three free throws, initiated the comeback for Al Gharafa.
The Cheetahs went on to complete what might be one of their memorable recent runs - 13-point sequence – and hit the front 82-81 with one 65 seconds left in the game. Though Al Arabi regained the advantage, there was a panic in their camp.
Al Gharafa’s top-scorer Shane Rector was involved in the crucial moments at that time. After he forced a foul and converted both the free throws to put his team three points up (86-83), he stole the ball from Khalid Suliman Abdi and assisted Monroe in nailing a layup (86-83) with the last-second left.
Todic committed foul in a bid to stop Monroe, who coolly put the ball away and wrapped up the dramatic win in which his team trailed for over 37 minutes.
Rector got a double-double (24 points and 11 rebounds, along with five steals. Centre Mohd Yousuf Mohammed secured 20 points. Point guard Abdulrahman Saad posted 16, while Monroe added 15 and William Byrd netted 13.
Al Gharafa’s 16 to 2 points off fast breaks were the feature. They also did well in finishing the turn-over chances, scoring 29 to 13 of Al Arabi.
For Al Arabi, Todic was the leading contributor with 20. Mohammed Harat did well to record 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Kevin Galloway had 17, Khaled Abdelbaset earned 16.
Al Shamal began to shake off rivals Al Wakrah after the interval and finished the third quarter with a commanding 61-47 edge before progressing solidly to triumph by 16 points. Apart from Harris and Efevberha, Wael Arakji played well and got 18 points, including three three-pointers off five attempts.
Julius Coles had a game-high 26 points for Al Wakrah. But Oumar Seck and Musa Aleem could support him with 16 and 13 points, respectively.