BASKETBALL – Mohammed Abdelaziz pulled off a remarkable three-point pull-up jump shot just before the buzzer went off to lead Qatar’s Al Rayyan to a dramatic 79-78 win over Muharraq in their last Group A game of the 2023-24 West Asia Super League (WASL)-Gulf Region at the Zain Basketball Arena last night.
As the game headed into its final 10 seconds, Muharraq led 78-76, having just taken a one-point lead through a three-point jump shot by Ra’Shad James.
As the clock ticked down to full-time, the ball found its way into Abdelaziz’s hands who steadied himself just outside the arc and shot at the hoop with just four-hundredths of a second left with the ball passing through the net a millisecond before the buzzer sounded.
The Al Rayyan players celebrated wildly while the Muharraq players and their supporters looked on shell-shocked before the Bahraini club’s coach asked the referee for a video review.
But it was to no avail as the video replay showed that the ball had, indeed, reached its target before the buzzer went off.
The thrilling finale capped off the frenetic last five minutes of the game which began with Muharraq, trailing 68-59, seemingly out of the contest.
The excellent James then netted a three-point jump shot to make it 68-62 before teammate Bader Malabes reduced the deficit further with another three-point jump shot with the scoreboard showing Al Rayyan leading 68-65 with slightly more than three minutes left.
A foul then gave Al Rayyan two free throws with Andrew Jackson White comfortably scoring off both to push the Qatari club’s lead back up to five points, at 70-65.
Another foul, this time on Muharraq, provided the hosts with two free throws with James making no mistake.
Al Rayyan now led by just three points, at 70-67, with just about two minutes left and White made a layup to push his team’s lead back up to five points, at 72-67.
Muharraq were then granted two more free throws with Mohammed Juma failing to score off one before White responded with a three-point jump shot to push his side’s lead up to seven points, at 75-68, with just 90 seconds remaining.
But Muharraq weren’t giving up and Malabes scored a two-pointer before adding another point through a free throw and suddenly, the hosts were just four points behind the visitors, at 75-71, and slightly more than a minute left.
Juma, then, scored a two-pointer before Tyler Wilkerson made a dunk as Muharraq drew level, at 75-75, with 44 seconds left on the clock.
16 seconds later, a technical foul by Muharraq’s Mohammed Ebrahim handed Al Rayyan a free throw with White making no mistake and the scoreboard showing the visitors leading by just one point, at 76-75.
The stage was now set for some sensational drama to unfold in the dying moments with Al Rayyan managing to hold their nerve for a thrilling win.
However, despite clinching their third win in six matches and seeing their points tally jump to nine, Al Rayyan still finished third in the four-team group table, behind Muharraq, who also have nine points but are ahead because of cumulative points difference, and Kuwait Club, who have 10 points.
Earlier, Muharraq had ended the first quarter leading 22-20 and were ahead, 41-33, at the break.
Al Rayyan bounced back in the third quarter, scoring 22 points to Muharraq’s 12, to start the final 10 minutes of the game with a slim, two-point lead, at 55-53.
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