CAIRO -- The Cape Town Tigers joined Petro de Luanda, Al Ahly and Ferroviário da Beira as the final team from the Basketball Africa League (BAL) Nile Conference to qualify for the playoffs in Kigali (May 20-27) with an 80-70 win over City Oilers.
The Tigers were led by a star performance from Cape Town's own Samkelo Cele, who contributed 28 points, eight rebounds and three assists. It was a crucial performance, as Cape Town had to win in order to advance to Kigali.
Cele, Pieter Prinsloo and Mike Gbinije did the heavy lifting in the absence of star signings Josh Hall, Zaire Wade and Evans Ganapamo, all of whom were listed as injured. Wade was noticeably injured in the Tigers' previous game, and will have been disappointed to be hurt again after only recently recovering from a long layoff.
The Tigers came out the blocks quickest in the early game and took a 15-7 lead, but this had whittled down to 20-17 by the end of the first quarter. The teams traded the lead in the second quarter and went into halftime level at 37-37.
Falando Jones' shooting was on song and the Tigers found themselves 43-39 behind but rallied back to lead 63-56 at the end of the third quarter.
The Tigers closed out the game 80-70 with a composed performance in the final quarter which showed significant improvement on previous matches, made notable by the absence of their marquee players.
A relieved Gbinije said in the mixed zone: "I'll be lying if I said I wasn't [doubting the Tigers' chances of progression]. I came into the game with doubt, but obviously, you've got to play the game and I thought we did a good job of just competing.
"It was a lot of stressful anxiety and for me personally, going through that game, I'm happy we came out with the win."
In the subsequent final game of the conference, hosts Ahly beat Guinea's SLAC by the same scoreline, 80-70, in what was essentially a dead-rubber fixture.
Hosts Al Ahly started sluggish, perhaps feeling they had nothing left to play for, having already qualified. At the end of the first quarter, they still led 19-18, but they subsequently allowed SLAC to take control of the game and a 34-20 lead, which was reduced to 43-38 by half-time.
A more inspired Ahly came out for the third quarter and took a 69-51 lead with Omar Oraby in fine form. SLAC fought back in the final quarter but it was too late and Ahly clinched an 80-70 victory.
"The main thing in the third quarter was our defense. We locked up on defence and that's what gave us the [18-point lead]. That's our goal as a team - to pride ourselves as a great defensive team," said center Oraby.
In the quarter-finals, Tigers will face Stade Malien, Ahly will play Rwanda Energy Group (REG), Beira will be up against AS Douanes and Petro will have to surpass ABC Fighters.
The BAL airs on ESPN's channels in Africa. The playoffs and finals will be in Kigali, Rwanda, from May 20 to 27.