Who was defending their turf this game? Zilzal felt like they were defending their champion status. Qariyah didn't care about their opponents champion status just as they knew that their opponents didn't care about their undefeated status. Qariyah has been playing with a chip on their shoulder all season looking for recognition of their play. It didn't happen in the all-star recognition or the award recognition despite their undefeated status. But in a twist, they may have finally earned it after this game despite losing. And that's because of the heart and determination they showed in this game, never giving up and providing Zilzal one of the best run's for their money in the last 2 or 3 seasons. Despite Qariyah beating Zilzal in the regular season, it was attributed by many observers to the fact that Zilzal was missing Ammer and had a bad game from Anish, leaving only Neil to carry the load. Some argued that with Ammer today, Qariyah stood no chance. One could argue that point, but one thing people couldn't argue was that with or without Ammer, Zilzal was going to have TROUBLE with Brian Quayson who absolutely ripped into Zilzal's low post defenders.
The majority seemed correct from the start of the game as Ammer was trying to stamp his name on the game through his shooting and the pace he was setting. Qariyah looked shell shocked and wasn't adjusting to the quick tempo of the game. It wasn't until 13:28 left in the game when Brian scored that Qariyah finally got on the board, trailing 2-8. Qariyah started to get more comfortable however, and Zilzal's shooters began missing horribly allowing Qariyah to regain the lead and actually enter halftime up 26-21 behind the Quayson brothers (Brian with 13 points and Kobe-ina's 7 points and 7 rebounds). Zilzal was shooting itself in the foot by going 3-12 from behind the 3-point arc.
The 2nd half was intense with the lead going back and forth; Qariyah called a timeout with 14:46 remaining, down 32-30. Qariyah was again forced to call a timeout later with 4:22 left and down 46-41. Between timeouts, it seems that Zilzal's Ammer realized that his 3-point shooting was off this game (0-9 at that point) and that he could better help his team by driving to the basket which he did with ease. Qariyah just couldn't stop Ammer's quickness once he fully committed himself to stay away from outside shooting and to go to the hole. In the closing moments of the game, and Zilzal up 48-46, Ammer missed a crucial lay-up that would have put his team up by 4. With 13.3 seconds left in the game and his team down 2, Qariyah's Hytham was fouled and put on the line. Perhaps the biggest free throws in Hytham's life; his team's undefeated record on the line and the chance to dethrone the defending champs. Hytham missed the 1st FT, and compounding the situation, Cobina was called for a lane violation on the 2nd FT giving the ball back to Zilzal with a 2 point lead intact. Qariyah was forced to foul and put Neil at the line with the chance to ice the game. Qariyah lucked out again as Neil missed the 1st FT and made the 2nd, giving Qariyah one more chance with 11 seconds to play. With no timeouts left, Qariyah knew they had to shoot the 3-pointer. They raced up the court and fed Brian for the 3, but he was blocked from behind by Anish; the ball landed in a Qariyah player's hands but he was unable to hit the game-tying shot.
Zilzal escaped with a 49-46 win and faces Asr in next week's semi-final game. Qariyah lost, but can take solace in a great game, a great season, and getting the respect they wanted. Hopefully they return next season to take another shot at the crown. |
