Al Gharafa claim season's second successive title with Qatar Cup crown
Al Gharafa claimed their second title within ten days as they trounced familiar foe Al Shamal 86-77 to emerge champions of the 2020-21 Qatar Basketball Federation (QBF) Qatar Cup at the Indoor Hall of the Al Gharafa Sports Club yesterday.
The newly crowned champions, who ended their seven-year wait for a league crown on January 24 after stopping Al Shamal from claiming a hat-trick of back-to-back titles with an emphatic 89-71 on the same court, were in dazzling form right from the tip-off.
Qatar's international Abdulrahman Saad, the league's MVP, and Muslic Nedim had one of the tournament's best games on the night as the duo accounted for 37 of their team's 86 point with Saad hitting 21, while Nedim helped with 16. Americans Franklin Session chipped in 15 points, and Tyler Harris had 11 as the team claimed their fifth Qatar Cup title. The Cheetahs had won the tournament in 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2016.
"It is an amazing win. Hats off to Shamal as they played very well today. They had us on the ropes for a while, but we stayed together as a team and won the title," Session said after the win.
The highly entertaining game was effectively decided in the fourth period as the two teams ended the third quarter neck-to-neck on 62 points each. However, it was a different ball game in the last quarter as the coach Koussay Hatem lads came out smoking with their series of impressive three-point jump shots and driving layups as they separated themselves from their opponents.
Coach Hatem said, "This is one of our best seasons so far, and I am delighted with today's victory. It is a big win for us. Now we have won two trophies this season. It has been amazing. The credit goes to the players as they played like a unit throughout the season. I want to thank our fans and management for their tremendous support, and we hope to continue in this form."
En route the final, Al Gharafa had defeated Qatar SC 83-72 while Al Shamal had a narrow 74-73 victory against Al Sadd in the exciting semis played on Monday.
"It was a tiring game. We have played three games in five days. Contrary to the league final, Shamal had their full team this time, but I think we played better basketball today and are the deserving winners," Saad said.
For Al Shamal, Georgian star Mikheil Berishvili's had a match-high 27 points while their Lebanese player Wael Arkaji was the architect of their semi-final win over Al Sadd, also chipped in with 23 points.
QBF Secretary-General Ali Al Malki said, "We are proud with the successful completion of this tournament despite all odds. The tournament was amazing, and the teams gave good accounts of themselves. It is good to see that the game is continuing to gain grounds in Qatar, and the quality of play is improving by the day. I want to congratulate Al Gharafa on their win, and I wish the losing team better luck next time."
The nine-day competition, which began on January 26, involved all nine teams in the league.
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