Africa-Press – Rwanda. Sunday, May 26
Cape Town Tigers 91-88 FUS Rabat
Al Ahly Ly 86-77 Al Ahly SC
South Africa’s Cape Town Tigers have progressed to semi-finals of the ongoing Basketball Africa League (BAL) finals in Kigali after edging FUS Rabat in Sunday’s clutch quarter-final game.
The Tigers became the second team to confirm their last four slot, After Al Ahly Ly who eliminated Egypt’s Al Ahly earlier in the day, following a narrow 91-88 overtime win in an electrifying encounter that sent thousands of basketball fans inside the BK Arena into a frenzy.
The eighth-seeded side entered the quarterfinal matchup as underdogs, but they didn’t bother pulling the strings and knock out the No.1 seed FUS de Rabat who had established themselves as hot favorites after outplaying holders Al Ahly SC in the classification game.
With the win, the Tigers reached the BAL semifinals for the very first time after three attempts, becoming yet the biggest achievement for South African basketball.
FUS de Rabat rallied from a ten-point deficit (80-70) later in the fourth quarter to take a three-point lead (83-80) with two seconds remaining but Samkelo Cele refused to go down by beating the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
Despite having Cartier Diarra, Ngor Manyang and Abdoulaye Ndoye having four fouls each at the end of the fourth quarter, the Tigers kept their composure to remain in contention for the 2024 BAL top prize.
Star guard Dhieu Deng, who helped Cape Town Tigers with 13 points, needed medical assistance on the court, after colliding with an opponent when the clock showed 6:54 minutes left in the regulation.
The game was stopped for approximately ten minutes before Deng was stretched off by a medical team.
Cele finished with a game-high of 30 points; Cartier Diarra contributed 15 while Ngor Manyang added 13 points off the bench.
Aliou Diarra recorded his fourth double-double of the season, finishing with 18 points, 16 rebounds while swatting 4 shots, but his effort wasn’t enough to rescue the Moroccan champions from the surprise loss.
Teenager Mohamed Sylla, who joined FUS Rabat through the BAL Elevate Program, made his presence felt, finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds while Jonathan Jordan’s subpar performance proved costly to the Rabat-based team.
Tigers center Nkosinathi Sibanyoni, who finished with 16 points and set a BAL rebounding record of 25 boards, called the victory a “historic moment” for not just the team but all South Africans.
Cape Town Tigers will face Libya’s Al Ahly Ly in the semifinals while FUS Rabat return home with a 4-2 mark. The Libyans stormed to the semifinals, for the first time, after ousting defending champions Al Ahly with an 86-77 win in the first quarterfinal match of the day.
The race for the last two spots for the semi-finals resumes on Monday, May 27, with Rivers Hoopers facing US Monastir at 5:00 pm (Kigali-time) before AS Douanes play Petro de Luanda at 8:00 pm (Kigali-time).
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