| The Tie-Breaker |
Jun 19, 2007 |
Both teams entered this game with identical records, tied in their only regular season match-up, and played poorly in the 1st round against much lower-ranked seeds. This week's game was to advance to the semi-finals, for pride, and to prove that last week both teams were really just playing to their competition and not a true indication of their level of play. Or as Kashif put it after the last game, it will be Old-School vs New School.
Before the game even started, Tamjeed was dealt a blow. They had regained Ibrahim Tiayumi who was absent the last time both teams played, but had lost captain Usman C. to a freak knee injury camping the night before (further evidence why kids shouldn't fool around on boats; just sit still:-) That's I-Slam's public service announcement for this week). Too bad since all Tamjeed player's had caught wind of this writer's well-placed statements in last week's previews as to how Fatiha was going to win. But I am not biased in this game, so I would never do that!
The game got off to a relatively quick offensive start with Tamjeed taking the lead early. It wasn't until Teepu Khawja hit 2 free throws to give Fatiha their first lead at 14-13 with 11:01 remaining in the half. Antar later hit 2 FTs of his own to tie the game at 19-19 with 6:09 left. The half ended a lot slower offensively then it had started as both teams picked up the defensive intensity. Tamjeed's AR Malik gave them the lead with 2:01 left at 21-19 after a strong drive to the basket. Tamjeed ended up leading the half 23-21 lead by Ibrahim T's 8 points, Antar's 6 points, and Ibrahim B's 7 points and 3 steals. Fatiha was lead by Sherif and Deklon's 5 points each; Sherif also contributed 3 steals.
The 2nd half didn't start off well for either team, but moreso for Fatiha at the start and Tamjeed at the end. Tamjeed started to build a lead slowly but surely; it was only when Fatiha cut that double digit lead to 7 at 35-28 did Tamjeed call a timeout to collect themselves and hopefully hang onto the lead. But the timeout couldn't stop Fatiha's momentum as they continued their run capped by Sherif's lay-up that tied the game at 35-35 with 6:45 left; this was followed soon afterwards by Mike Jacobs connecting on both FTs to give Fatiha the 37-35 lead with 5:45 left. The lead was extended to 39-36 after Mike's And-1 play but he couldn't hit his free throw, so Fatiha had to settle being up by 3 with 3:10 left. After not cutting into that 3-point lad, Tamjeed used its final timeout with 2:20 left and still down 39-36. Fatiha came out focused on defence knowing it still had both its timeouts if needed; AR Malik missed a 3-attempt but Tamjeed got lucky as Ibrahim T found himself under the basket for a huge put-back that closed the game to 39-38 with 1:41 left. Fatiha burned one of its timeouts up 39-38 with 1:30 left. Fatiha's defence came up huge in the end as Sherif stripped Ibrahim B cleanly with 45 seconds and Fatiha still up just 39-38. Deklon missed the front-end of a 1-and-1 and Tamjeed got the rebound with 30 seconds to play. Ibrahim B missed a jumper which Deklon rebounded and was then fouled. This was Deklon's time for redemption as he had missed 2 crucial FTs in the regular season against Tamjeed at the end of the game which allowed the game to end in a tie. This time he hit both FTs to put Fatiha up 41-38. Tamjeed brought down the ball for its last chance, but Fatiha's defence forced Antar to travel and then foul Deklon who hit 1 of 2 free throws.
The game ended with Fatiha winning 42-38. This game was up for grabs; Tamjeed was hurt from being outrebounded 25-21, missing the mark from beyond the arc to the tune of 0-7, out-fouling Fatiha 18-11, and turning the ball over more times than it was on the receiving end (18 steals for Fatiha including 5 each for Mike and Sherif, compared to 6 steals for Tamjeed). Fatiha definitely didn't help themselves with a very poor 12-23 shooting day from the "charity" stripe.
Fatiha will now face Ikhlas in the semi-finals, a 1 vs 2 seed pairing. |
