Dubai: Al Nasr clinched the Basketball Vice President Cup for the second successive year after beating Al Ahli 71-58 in the final held at the Saeed Bin Maktoum indoor sports hall at the Al Shabab Sports Club Sunday night.
Al Nasr dominated the match from the start showing an excellent performance which crowned them champions for the second season running.
"We dominated from the beginning and never let the lead slip from our hands. Al Ahli is a good team, but we played better and our players were determined to keep the trophy for the second year," said Serbian Srdan Aijtic the Al Nasr coach who began with the team two months ago.
Al Nasr led in the first quarter 20-11, continued in the second quarter 38-30, widened the gap to 13 points at the end of the third quarter 56-43 and finished winners 71-58.
"Al Nasr played in four finals last season and won one, in the current season we will compete to win all the titles and we began with the Vice President Cup," said the Al Nasr coach.
It was the second trophy in the Al Nasr basketball history, the team started in the late seventies, and had never won a title in 30 years until last year when they clinched the Vice President cup, the first basketball title to be won by the club.
The team includes talented Emirati players such as Qasim Mohammad, Talal Salim, Talal Mussabah, Saleh Sultan and Ebrahim Obaid.
The basketball association decision to allow foreign professionals to play with UAE clubs helped Al Nasr to sign good foreign players - Carl Trelio and Daron Marquez who helped them keep the title for the second season.
Al Nasr team captain Qasim Mohammad said: "This victory will motivate us to show our best in the league and President cup."
Qasim said the team's new coach Aijtic had done a very good job in the past two months.
"The new tactics he implemented helped to develop the team's standard and clinch the title. We as players understood what he wanted and it was effectuated in a proper way. Due to these new tactics, we never looked back and kept our lead until the final whistle," said Qasim.
Winning the Vice President cup will allow Al Nasr to take part in the Dubai International basketball tournament next December.
