Wild-Card Round (Not Bye Week, Weiss)

Fez and Suba took care of business against Granada and Beirut respectively. I thought Beirut would've put up a better fight but this wasn't event close. Jon Mingo simply could not do it on his own. They played much better towards the end of the season but Suba came ready to play.

Round 1 (Elight Eight)

Mombasa over Suba. Mombasa was completely in control from the beginning. Weiss really has his team playing well. They are as anxious as can be for a re-match with Kabul. But first they will have to get past Lahore.

Lahore over Jeddah. I didn't watch the whole game but it seemed Lahore was in control throughout. Although the score was relatively close, and everytime it seemed Jeddah would threaten a comeback, Lahore would hunker down and get their points. I think they will match-up really well against Mombasa.

Tehran over Jakarta. This game was great to watch. It had the nitty gritty playoff game feel that we have come to expect in Muslimbasketball. It was back-and-forth from the get-go and Islam played like the all-star he is. However Azhar and Asher would come right back and match it. During the season, Jakarta was second in total rebounds (37 per game) while Tehran was second to last (~29 per game). With Big T-Mac and Ibrahim Selevany not playing (where were they?) Big Man Ahmad Selevany had to shoulder the load. While he played valiantly, Tehran matched them in rebounds and Usama lead the game with 13 rebounds. It was Jakarta up 34-32 with about 6 minutes to go. Then after exchanging a couple of buckets each, Tehran started to foul with about ONE minute to go. Jakarta unfortunely could not drain their free throw shots and it would kill them. It was 41-39. Islam first made one of two to put them up 42-39. A quick bucket and foul made it 42-41. I think it was Islam who was fouled but missed his free throws. Tehran would rebound and push up the court with less than 10 seconds to go. A missed shot by Asher led to scramble for the ball. Tehran managed to get another good look that clanked off to Usama who would be standing right under the basket to put it back in as the BUZZER sounded. The Refs clearly saw that it went in before the buzzer and it was the right call. Tough break for Jakarta but Islam needed other people to step and he didn't get much help. Bilal grabbed 12 rebounds and even made off with 7 steals but unfortunatley could not score.

Kabul over Fez. This had the potential for being the biggest upset this weekend. (in D3 history, maybe?) Although Fez had just played only one hour before, they came out energized and fired up. Henne was running the offense intent on breaking Kabul's Zone Defense. And it was working, to an extent. The ball was spread evenly and effeciently pushing Fez out to an early lead. On the other end, Kabul's offense was slow and shots were not falling in. The first half was a back and forth ending with Fez up 15-11 including a three by Fredrick with under two minutes to go. The second half started out the same: tough gritty defense by both sides along with Kabul's Offense the queitest it has been all season long. Raj played really well by feeding off a couple of nifty pases underneath for easy layups. Half way in the second half, Kabul closed the gap to one point but a big three by Raj gave Fez some breathing room. It all changed with 5 minutes to go. Kabul fouled Sharjeel Saleem on a three point attempt and Sharjeel hit all 3 clutch free throws to give Fez a four point lead (28-24). Kabul responded by going on a 16-5 run to end the game. Big man Hamza hit a clutch jump shot on the next possession to stop the bleading. Then it was followed by three pointers from yours truly and Abduallah to put Kabul up ahead for good. After the second three pointer, it felt as though Fez had given up. Although Kabul had no substitutes (one player injured and two taking SATs, yes we are that young), Fez played very very well. We tip our hats to them and wish them the best for next season.

Good luck to the four remaining teams and wish the best for the teams that got eliminated.

Edited by user Tuesday, June 10, 2014 10:54:31 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

lol