| Nasr survives as Sharh make a valiant run |
Jan 21, 2008 |
Nasr came into this game as the favourite but Sharh was hoping to keep this game close and come away with the win. Nasr has their full roster present while Sharh was missing Luqemar Bruceton which would hurt their game. The regular season meeting saw Nasr win by a 60-42 final score, Nasr had started strong in that game with a 16-3 lead out of the gate and never really looked back.
Nasr started the game flying as Ibrahim Baig hit a deep three pointer and a jumper to give his team the early lead. Sharh seemed unable to get on the scoreboard as multiple lay-ups were blown and frustration seemed to be mounting. With Nasr taking control of the game, Sharh called a timeout with 15:50 left and down 9-0. Sharh spent most of the timeout arguing with each other about why they used their timeout so early, but after allowing Nasr to run away with their regular season game in the first half they wanted to reorganize things early. The timeout seemed to help as Sharh started to get their offense in gear as they fed the ball into Othman Moutdayne in the post and let him go to work. Othman proceeded to abuse the interior defense of Nasr with an array of spin moves and drives that could not be stopped. Sharh closed the gap and only some hard work from Baig kept this game from getting tied. Nasr held onto a halftime lead of 33-27, with Hakim Osman putting up 11 points and 4 rebounds and Baig with 9 points and 5 rebounds. Sharh was led by Othman with 15 points and 5 rebounds.
The second half saw Sharh continue to fight to keep the score close but they got away from posting the ball up with Othman and started to shoot from the outside more. Mohammed Moutdayne hit some big three pointers and Hassan Moutdayne drove the basket hard for some lay-ups. After Hassan completed a three point play with six minutes left, Nasr was holding onto a 50-46 lead. After Osman banked a shot in to give Nasr a 52-46 lead, Mohammed Moutdayne drilled a deep three to make it 52-49 with 5:26 left and Nasr quickly called a timeout. The stoppage helped as Nasr took their time with offensive possessions as they moved the ball around the perimeter and forced the Sharh defence to stretch which created enough space to get open looks. Sharh called a timeout with 1:32 left and down 60-52 as they wanted to stop the clock as free throws were being taken. With time against them and a large deficit to overcome, Sharh launched some long shots to try and make it a two possession game but they were not able to close the gap and lost by a 64-55 final score.
Hakim Osman led Nasr with 19 points and 6 rebounds while Ibrahim Baig finished with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 3 blocks for an all around strong game. Sharh was led by Othman with 18 points and 8 rebounds although he was held to 3 points in the second half as his team stopped getting him the ball as much. Hassan Moutdayne finished with 16 points and Mohammed Moutdayne had 13 points on 4 for 6 shooting from beyond the arc.
Sharh played the game well in spurts but the missed lay-ups early and the inability to get the ball into Othman who was dominating cost them the game. As for Nasr, with the win they move on to face Duha in the semi-finals. |
