| When Underacheiver Meets Overachiever |
Jun 10, 2008 |
Ash Shams advanced to the second round as they defeated defending champions Al Fil earlier on in the day. An impressive win, however the road to the finals would not get any easier as they would now have to go up against the division leading team of Sharh.
No one expected Sharh to clinch first place in their division at the start of the season. Some I-slam analysts even suggested that this team would finish dead last. Obviously, they were wrong, and they did not realize that this is I-slam, where Amazing Happens, and where Impossible is Nothing. Ash Shams was on the opposite side, as they finished 4th and would now have to take on first place Sharh. To make things worse, Amer Malik, who suffered a sprained ankle in the first round game, was not a 100% for this one.
Injuries or no injuries, Ash Shams started the game right where they left off from their first round matchup, as Sayeed continued his hot 3 point shooting, as he nailed in 2 3-pointers in the first half. Donovan had also come alive, as he used his overpowering size to drive through Sharh’s defense for easy points. But Sharh was not going to let this one slip away early, as they hung on and got some offense from their guards, Saleh and Tarek. With ten minutes remaining in the first half, Ash Shams was up 22-18.
With Sharh still in the game, things started go south as they elected to take ill advised 3-point shots. They shot 1 for 14 from downtown, as their mistakes allowed Ash Shams to open up the lead. With the half coming to an end, Ash Shams lead 31-23. However, even with the 8-point lead, Ash Shams realized that no lead is safe, especially from a team like Sharh that can get hot at any time.
In the second half, both teams continued to trade baskets. With under 12 minutes to go, Ash Shams had increased their lead to 12, as Sharh realized that trading baskets at this point was not going to help them. The only way to come back now was to force turnovers and make defensive stops. As they made some adjustments on defense, they ran into another problem. Sharh could not hit their free throws, as they went 4 for 12 in the second half.
With under 10 minutes to go now, Ash Shams’ Donovan took matters into his own hands. It all started with one of the loudest and biggest blocks we have ever witnessed. As one of Sharh’s players was alone on the fast break (I will not mention his name) Donovan came up from behind and shattered the backboard as he pinned the ball off the glass. With the noise of the block echoing into the gym, the refs actually checked to see if the ball still had any air left in it. But what followed two minutes later was even better, as Donovan threw down a reverse alley-oop jam from Sayeed’s pass that caused absolute ruckus in the stands. On the next offensive play, Donovan returned the favour as he set up Sayeed for one of his own Rim rocking alley-oop jams!
With 3 momentum stealing plays, Ash Shams ran away with a decisive victory as they sent first place Sharh packing. Ash Shams won 62-51, and were lead by Donovan’s 26 pts and 9 rebounds, which gave him the first star of the game. Duha was lead by Saleh’s 17 points. Ash Shams will now head to the semi finals, and will play the winner of another intense game between Quraysh and Humazah. |
