Al Qadisia clinches GCC crown
Most of the fans stood up, some just moved to the edge of their foldable seats, some walked from left to right and some had their nails between their teeth. Well, with just 15 seconds remaining and the electronic scoreboard displaying 63-62 in favour of Kuwait's Al Qadisia against Al Rayyan of Qatar, the supporters, spectators, bench players, team think-tank were all in for a nerve-tingling finale to the 26th GCC Clubs Basketball Championship at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex (SQSC) yesterday.
And as the countdown began, a crucial foul by Al Rayyan's Salah Ateeq on Al Qadsiya's Abdullah As Sarraf saw the Belarussian referee Henrik Bakish award two throws to Qadsiya. Abdullah successfully converted and then yet another foul saw Qadisia's Nate Green score before Fahd Khalid slam in the final basket to record a memorable 68-63 win over the favourites and lift the coveted GCC title. Earlier in the evening, Al Shabab poured more misery on the holders Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia with a 95-86 victory to seal the third spot. The winners led 49-38 at the interval.
His Highness Sayyid Hareb bin Thuwaini al Said, who witnessed the final throughout, presented the individual medals to the top three teams and then gave away the glittering winner's trophy to Al Qadsiya players amid joyous celebrations by the Kuwaiti team and their fans. Prince Talal bin Badr bin Abdulaziz al Saud, Chairman of the GCC Basketball Organising Committee was also present on the occasion.
Yesterday's win was also sweet revenge for Qadsiya, who had lost to Rayyan in the group stages (85-55) and the credit should be given to their Lithuanian coach, Lukoshus, who masterminded the downfall of the fancied rivals.
Al Qadisia's victory was based on their admirable defence and the players' die-hard attitude, a fact Lukhosus later admitted.
"I am absolutely thrilled. We waited for this victory and worked hard to achieve it. My defensive plans for the final was successfully executed by the boys and we deserved to be the champions." "We had a compact defence and to hold Al Rayyan to just 62 points is a tribute to our defensive system," he added. A disheartened Al Rayyan coach, Jamie Angeli of the United States, deplored the poor shooting of his players. "A second-place finish is not acceptable. Our boys failed to shoot open baskets at crucial junctures," he lamented.
"Al Qadisia had a good defence but we have the wherewithal to break it open but poor shooting put paid to our dreams," he added. The match expectedly got off to a cautious start with both the teams taking time to settle down. Qadsiya was the first to put in the basket but Rayyan soon found the rhythm with Yaseen Ismail and American import Ben Walker finding the target to open up a 8-4 lead. But Qadsiya's Abdulaziz Bargish, who deservedly was taken the man-of-the-match, came up with the first three-pointer to help his side into the first break with a 13-10 lead.
The next quarter too was an exhibition of defensive play as points struggled to come but occasional three-pointers by Abdulaziz and Rayyan's Yaseen kept the score neck and neck. However, the match's first slam-dunk was shot in by Rayyan's Yaseen to help his team take a 24-22 lead but Qadsiya's Abdullah, American import Antony Green and Fahd Rehman came up with opportunistic baskets to leave the match evenly placed at the lemon time with Rayyan leading 32-30.
The post-interval session saw Rayyan seize the initiative from Al Qadisia but Abdulaziz got the second and final slam-dunk of the match to keep the lead close as they trailed 45-46 to set up a perfect platform for the final ten minutes. The narrow contest continued with Al Qadisia fighting back from 49-55 to 56-56 before the memorable final minute drama was enacted as Al Qadisia bounced back from 59-60 to win 68-62 in less than 60 seconds left.

Al Qadisia 68 - Al Rayyan 62 (13-10,30-32,45-46 & 68-62)
The scorer of the game deservley were for the Kuwaiti player Abdalla As Sarraf who scored 26 points.