Rayyan show intent with 78-48 thrashing of Sadd

Al Rayyan made a mockery of the first game in the best-of-three finals of the Qatar Basketball League by hammering Al Sadd 78-48 at the Al Gharafa Indoor Hall last evening.The two teams had made the finals after a long season, but yesterday Al Sadd seemed woefully out of touch and caved in tamely against Al Rayyan who boast the best record in Qatar with several league and Cup titles to their credit.Alban Ngombo and Dominic Davon led the scoring charge for Al Rayyan with 21 points each, while Lawrence Hill and Yaseen Musa contributed 16 and 10, respectively.Al Rayyan enjoyed leads of 16-8, 30-17 and 52-35 at the end of the first three sessions and scored 26 in the final period to complete the rout. Deba Kone fought a lone battle for Al Sadd with 20 points, while Anthnoy Raffa with 13 was the second best.Rayyan scored 21 points from turnovers while Al Sadd had seven. Both teams will clash in the second game of their finals on Tuesday.Earlier, in the battle for third place, El Jaish prevailed 83-66 over Al Gharafa, with the winners leading from the start.Elhadj Doudou top-scored for El Jaish with 18 points with nine coming from three-pointers, while Yousuf Mohamed and Turki Ali chipped in with 15 and 14 respectively.For Al Gharafa, Dwayne Galloway scored a game-high 25 points with Abdelkader Salem contributing 12.