El Jaish threw a spanner in the works of treble-chasing Al Rayyan after posting an upset victory in the first match of their Emir Cup three-match semi-final playoffs at the Al Gharafa Indoor Hall yesterday.

Al Rayyan, who won the Qatar Basketball League and the Qatar Cup and are favourites to bag the Emir Cup crown too, fell to an 87-80 defeat, leaving them with the daunting task of winning their next two matches.

El Jaish hit their stride early and led 24-19 after the first quarter, 48-35 after the second and 64-43 after the third.

At one point in the final quarter they held a whopping 75-50 cushion and it’s a testimony to Al Rayyan’s never-say-die attitude that they still managed to make a fight out of it by scoring a whopping 37 points  to take the fight to the opposition.

Adamu Saaka was the star for El Jaish with a match-high 26 points, while Leon Macklin and Turki Ali chipped in with 16 and 15, respectively.

For Al Rayyan, Joseph Raffa top-scored with 18 points with a trio of three-pointers while Lawrence Hill had 18 and Hassan Mohamed 11.

In another match, Al Gharafa boosted their chance of qualifying for the finals with a convincing 75-57 victory over Al Sadd in their first match.

Al Sadd edged the first quarter 16-14 but fell behind steadily after that to allow Al Gharafa run away with the match in the end.

Al Gharafa held a 50-44 lead going into the final period during which they scored 15 points to seal the outcome of the match.

Dwayne Galloway excelled for Gharafa with 20 points, while Osaro Adako had 19 and Hassino Ndoye 18.

Deba Kone and Nathaneal Williams scored 16 apiece for Al Sadd.

Credit: Gulf Time Sport