Recap
Final (2:00 PM-3:00 PM) Sunday, Jun 15, 2008
Ma'un
Asr
  1 2 T
Ma'un (8-1-0) 24 38 62
Asr (3-6-0) 16 30 46

Ma置n struggles but grinds out a win over Asr Jun 16, 2008
by Zuhair Fancy  

When they last met, Ma置n beat up on Asr despite playing the second half down a man. Asr would need to play a smart game and prevent silly turnovers to have a chance for another upset after defeating the third seeded Qariyah in the first round of the playoffs. Asr would be forced to look to their bench to replace the scoring of Genghiz Seyhun who was not available for the start of the game.

Ma置n got off to a good start as they moved the ball up court and into the hands of Raheel Rawjani who used his quickness to give his team an early 11-5 lead. Asr got a great solo effort from Farhad Khan who completed a lay-up while being fouled to make it a four point game and hit his free throw to cut Ma置ns lead to 11-8 with twelve minutes left in the half. Ma置n managed to build a 16-8 lead before Khan went back to work with back to back buckets to make it 16-12 and force Ma置n to burn a timeout with 9:29 left. The timeout helped Ma置n as they slowed down Khan痴 attack and built a 23-14 lead with three minutes to play. Asr did not help themselves when Nael Salah Eddin got called for a technical for too much complaining with 1:20 to play.

At the end of the first half, Ma置n was holding a 24-16 lead. Rawjani led Ma置n with 8 points while Avi Maharaj added 6 points. Asr was led by Khan with 7 points.

The second half saw Ma置n slowly start to add to their lead as Asr struggled to match the fast pace of the game. Rawjani was using his speed to get fast break lay-ups and in a half court offense, Ma置n was posting up Rihard Suler who was using his size to put up some points in the paint. Asr was unable to slow him down and seemed unwilling or unable to foul him and send him to the line instead of giving him easy baskets. With eleven minutes to play in the second half, Ma置n was now leading 50-33 and in control. Seyhun finally arrived to check into the game with three minutes left and Asr down 56-38 so he was much too late to help his team.

Ma置n won by a final score of 62-46 as they rode a strong second half. Ma置n was led by Rawjani with 15 points while Asr was led by Sufian Hamid with 15 points and Khan with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Ma置n will now advance to the finals where they will face Nas. When the teams met during the regular season, Nas won by in overtime by a 44-42 score.