El Jaish produced a sensational final quarter to beat Al Rayyan 79-78 and force the third game of their best-of-three semi-final series in the Qatar Cup at the Al Gharafa Indoor Hall yesterday.

Al Rayyan, who had won the first match of the series, appeared to be cruising towards the final of the prestigious tournament when they led for most part of the second game and were comfortably ahead 64-54 at the end of the third quarter.

But little did they anticipate that El Jaish were about to launch a brilliant comeback by scoring 25 points in the final quarter while restricting Al Rayyan to a mere 14.

The turning point of the match came with 46 seconds remaining when, with El Jaish trailing 75-76, Hani Abilmona produced a jump-shot to score a three-pointer which helped his side leapfrog Al Rayyan and take a 78-76 lead.

Ironically, that slender two-point lead was the only time El Jaish managed to get ahead of Al Rayyan, and although Dominic Davon made it 78-all with 28 seconds remaining, a free-throw converted by Ernest Bell with 17 seconds to go ensured El Jaish stayed in the competition.

Bell was the top scorer for El Jaish with 22 points, while Leon Macklin had 16 and Turki Ali had 16 and 15 respectively.

For Al Rayyan, Davon scored a whopping 43 points only to end up on the losing side, while Lawrence Hill had 19 and Yaseen Ismail Musa 15.

The third and deciding match of the semi-final series will be played on Saturday.

Earlier, Al Gharafa stormed into the final with an 84-65 win over Al Shamal in the second match of their best-of-three semi-final series yesterday.

Timotheus  Massey and Dwayne Galloway were the stars with a combined tally of 50 points as Al Gharafa, who had won the first game last week, stamped their authority on the match after edging a tense first period 22-21.

Massey emerged as the top scorer in the match with 29 points and was ably supported by Galloway who chipped in with 21 as Al Gharafa pulled 45-33 clear after the third period.

They then stepped up the tempo to score 26 pints in the third quarter while restricting Al Shamal to just 14 to take a healthy 71-47 cushion going into the final 10 minutes.

That proved too much for Al Shamal to overcome as Al Gharafa deservedly clinched their final spot.

Mildon Ambres was the top scorer for Al Shamal with 26 points, while Kamal Hachad had 18. None of the other players could manage double digit scores.

Credit: Gulf Time Sport