| Karifun move up in standings with big win over Fatiha |
Jun 13, 2006 |
The final game of the regular season saw Kafirun face Fatiha in a match that Kafirun needed to win to move up in the standings. With a win, Kafirun could leapfrog over Kursi into third place while Fatiha was hoping to win their first game of the season.
The game started off strong for Fatiha as they posted up Samer Kurdi who made some strong moves in the post for points. Kafirun was being kept in the game by Greg Hamilton who drove the lane hard and went to the line 9 times in the half after drawing contact. Fatiha called for a timeout with 11:13 left and up 14-12 but could not come up with a strategy to slow Hamilton down. The half ended with Kafirun up 33-31, Hamilton led his team with 13 points while Fatiha got 14 points from Asaph Levy with Kurdi pitching in with 8 points and 6 rebounds.
The second half saw Hamilton continue to punish Fatiha and after scoring three consecutive baskets forced Fatiha to call a timeout with 16:20 left and Kafirun up 46-36. This timeout seemed to help Fatiha pull themselves together as they began to work a nice two man game with Kurdi down low and Levy slashing through the lane. Fatiha went on a 14-6 run and forced Kafirun to call a timeout with 8:36 left and clinging to a 52-50 lead. Kurdi was key in the comeback as he used his quickness to repeatedly beat Yahya Thabit on the blocks. Kafirun managed to recompose themselves as Hamilton took control of the game and helped to stop Levy on defense while scoring some big baskets on offense as Kafirun built a 10 point lead. With less than a minute left, Fatiha got their highlight of the season as Levy drove the lane and threw down a huge one-handed dunk over Humaid Qureshi. The gym was left buzzing for the remainder of the game as Kafirun players quickly denied being dunked on. Kafirun won the game 68-57 and will jump into third place. They were led by Hamilton with 36 points and 9 rebounds, including 23 points in the 2nd half. Fatiha was led by Kurdi with 20 points and 12 rebounds and Levy with 19 points.
This game ended up being a preview for the first round of the playoffs as these teams will meet again.
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