Nigeria international Chris Obekpa may have opened the scoring with a thunderous dunk over Ater Majok, but it was a short-lived lead for SLAC who struggled to deal with US Monastir's ruthlessness, and lost 76-55 in the Basketball Africa League on Tuesday.
The Tunisian champions, now 2-0 in the tournament, stepped on the floor in an aggressive mode, playing a suffocating defense that prevented SLAC from executing their game plan in the offense.
SLAC didn't look the same team that upset hosts DUC in the Sahara Conference opener on Saturday. They looked lost for ideas and lacked aggression on both ends of the floor.
But what hurt Zeljko Zecevic's team the most was US Monastir's aggressive defense, which forced SLAC into several shot clock violations.
READ: Everything you need to know about the BAL
And having SLAC's lead scorer Chris Crawford as their main target worked to perfection. Crawford picked his third foul with five minutes left in the second quarter, and that hindered SLAC's chances to stay in the game.
With Zecevic forced to take Crawford out of the game to protect him from reaching his foul limit, Monastir not only kept SLAC scoreless for the remaining five minutes of the first half, but they also used a 10-0 run to go to the locker room with a comfortable 44-25 lead.
SLAC cut the point-gap to 55-40 with 2:13 minutes left in the third quarter, but that was the closest they got to US Monastir as the Tunisians went on to lead by as many as 23 points at some stage in the game.
Oussama Marnaoui, who was 3-for-6 from behind the arc to finish with 13 points, said afterwards: "It was a great a win for us. It's important for the team's mindset moving forward in the competition. We are glad that we got the job done and I am excited to have been able to help (the team) stay perfect."
Hosts DUC drop to 0-2 after loss to Beira de Ferroviario
Dakar is hosting the Sahara Conference of the BAL but their team is not having a good time of it, as they lost 98-92 to Mozambique champions Beira de Ferroviario, led by former Landers University star Jermel Kennedy.
The Mozambicans stepped on the floor reminding everyone that they were on a mission and a 6-0 run to start the game reflected their intentions in a game that registered seven lead changes.
Kennedy powered Beira with a performance for the ages. He had a 8-for-13 shooting to finish with a game-high 27 points and a team-best 9 rebounds.
William Perry added 16 points, Ayade Munguambe contributed 15 points off the bench, Prince Orizu won the painted area battle to go with 12 points and 5 rebounds, as Beira improved their Sahara Conference record to 1-1 ahead of the clash against AS Salé of Morocco.
Kennedy said per the BAL: "It was big win for us. We needed to bounce back. Losing is always a bad. We didn't like that. We've adjusted and got the win. We went to zone [defense]. It disrupted them and we went up 15 points.
"That's the first thing at halftime. 'Guys, relax, go there and enjoy. It's always easy when you're having fun.'"
Beira head coach Luis Hernandez added: "It was an important to win this game to boost the teams' morale. Nobody likes to start a competition with a loss. We lost to the [BAL] runners-up from last season, we played well, but we fell short.
"We are more confident, and this is the position we wanted to be after the loss to Monastir.
"In the first half we were very excited. We were chasing them, especially in the second quarter. That was not our style of play. My message to my players was that needed to play our game, move the ball, create shots opportunities and it worked."