| Door "Slammed" Shut on Nasr |
Jun 19, 2007 |
After pulling off the upset in the opening round of the playoffs, Nasr were looking to continue their magic against Ash-Shams. This time around things would be much tougher but Nasr was prepared for the challenge. They came out flying as they opened the game with a 12-0 run! All five of the starters felt good as they hit their jumpers while Ash-Shams struggled to hit anything. As such they were forced to call at time-out just 3:16 into the match.
The time-out seemed to work as it slowed down Nasr and allowed Ash-Shams to chip away at the lead with their own 9 point run. Suddenly we had a game! The two teams shuffled back and forth scoring some quick baskets. Nasr suffered an early set-back in the set as Ibrahim Baig picked up his third foul and was forced to sit the remainder of the half. With Ibby out of the game the floor opened up a bit more for Ash-Shams to attack the rim. Things still weren't working in Nasr's favour as fouls started to plague several members of the team. Ash-Shams took full advantage of the bonus free throws as they went a perfect 7 for 7 in the half. That was good enough to bring them in but by the time ended Nasr held a marginal lead of 2 points and a score of 26-24. Mohammed Sayeed led all scorers in the half with 11 points.
In the second half Ash-Shams was off like a bullet as they quickly tied the game at 26 and then followed that up with a quick basket to take their first lead of the game. The wheels were quickly reeling off for Nasr as they couldn't get any of their shots to stick. Meanwhile Ash-Shams was running on full throttle. Ahsan Raza and Donovan Gayle started to dominate the boards scoring and rebounding almost at will. Things could have been even worse had I-Slam three-point champ Nima Baeidfar make any of his 3-point shots. He was successful only on 1 of 6 attempts.
The salami and cheese came out early in the second half when Mohammed Saeed stole the ball and threw down a one-handed dunk. In the very next play Donovan Gayle stole the ball and threw down his own thunderous tomahawk dunk. The rest of the game was just formality. After scoring 26 points in the first half, Nasr was only able to manage 16 points in the second frame. The final nail was placed on their coffins and hammered in. Their season was over. Ash-Shams thoroughly ran over them with a 55-42 victory. Gayle and Saeed were absolutely amazing in this game showing also sorts of flash and brilliance. Gayle led all scorers with 18 points while Saeed followed him with 14 points. Unfortunately for Nasr, no man was able to score in double-digits but everyone did contribute equally.
Ash-Shams can now regroup as they get a two hour break before their championship game against an undetermined victor. |
