(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Qatar Sports Club overcame a 9-point first quarter deficit to beat Al Arabi in the Emir Cup basketball tournament last evening.
Wallace Cox and Mile Ilic were the stars for Qatar Sports Club with 21 and 19 points respectively as they won 74-67 in a tense encounter at the Al Gharafa Indoor Hall.
Both teams hit the court firing on all cylinders and were running neck and neck for the first five minutes before Al Arabi took control to post a handy 22-13 lead first quarter lead.
However, Qatar Sports Club's fortunes began to change at the start of the second quarter when they scored 11 points in the first five minutes while restricting their rivals to a mere four.
Al Arabi lost their momentum after that and went into the third quarter trailing Qatar Sports Club by a point (39-38). From thereon, it was Qatar Sports Club who were in control as they scored 22 points in the third quarter as against Al Arabi's 12.
Carrying a 65-57 lead into the last session, Qatar Sports Club closed out the match with some degree of comfort.
Jama al-Rahman and Mahmoud Ahmed also contributed handsomely to Qatar Sorts Club's win, scoring 12 and 11 respectively.
For Al Arabi, Tanguy Ngombi scored a game-high 24 points but still ended up on the losing side. Hassino Ndoye and Oumar Seck had 19 and 10 respectively.
In another match, Al Gharafa thrashed Al Khor 84-67 at their home venue. Gharafa took a massive 20-point lead after the first period as they dominated the proceedings right throughout the match. Khor did manage to make a comeback reducing the deficit to 12 in the second period and 10 in the third. However, Gharafa were too strong on the day and came out firing in the last period to close out the match easily.
For Gharafa, Samuel Jr. Monroe was in in form as he top-scored with 33 points, followed by 15 from Deangelo Downey and 14 from Abdelkader Salem . For the vanquished Al Khor, Anthony Coleman scored 23 while Rashaad Singleton contributed 18 points.
In today's matches. Al Shamal face Al Ahli at 5pm, while Al Wakrah will take on El Jaish.
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