| Competing Priorities |
Jun 11, 2007 |
Some could have excused Ash-Shams for appearing disorganized as all of the players were also competing in the Slam Jam tournament at Hoop Dome, and had to rush to Vanier for the playoff game and then rush back to Hoop Dome for their tournament games. This of course could be expected to play into the defending champion, Duha's, hands. As it was this game was expected to be very competitive, but Ash-Shams' other priorities and the fact that Duha was missing big man Jeff, also made one wonder who really had the advantage?
It seemed to be that Ash-Shams was the one who was able to overcome any of their perceived obstacles as they lead at the half 35-24 behind Nima's 15 points (off of 3-4 3-pt shooting and 4-4 FT shooting). Duha's Mohammed Saleh was doing his thing muscling down low for 13 points but wasn't getting any help as only 2 other teammates got onto the scoresheet. Saleh's frustrations boiled over at the 6:16 mark as he was given a technical.
In the 2nd half, both teams started getting their offensive flow going and it was a very high scoring 20 minutes. For Ash-Shams, Nima pretty much disappeared from the stats but his slack was picked up by Mohammed Sayeed and Donovan Gayle, while Duha's All-Star Abdul Bari started supporting his team. Sayeed set the offensive tone in the 1st half as he stole the ball 10 seconds into the half and converted on a 2-handed slam. At the 4:08 mark, Donovan had a reverse 2-handed crown on Duha. Duha's Saleh and Abdul Bari continued to match Ash-Shams' offence, but matching was not what they needed as they had to overcome the 11 point 1st-half deficit. But the 1st half did them in, as they lost 72-64. Ash-Shams will now face Nasr in the semis. |
