CAIRO - South Sudanese-Australian former Baylor Bears center Jo Lual-Acuil broke the Basketball Africa League (BAL) single-game scoring record on Saturday with 42 points as Libya's Al Ahly Benghazi sealed their place in the playoffs by beating Uganda's City Oilers 110-78.
Meanwhile, the Cape Town Tigers have also qualified, as Bangui's heavy defeat to Al Ahly means they are guaranteed a place in Kigali by virtue of being one of the two best third-placed teams. Bangui will have to hope to finish ahead of whoever comes third in Dakar's Sahara Conference (May 4-12) to book their place.
Much of the game between Al Ahly Benghazi and City Oilers was always going to revolve around the battle of the in-form South Sudanese big men -- Oilers' Khaman Maluach and Ahly Benghazi's Jo Lual-Acuil and Majok Deng.
Oilers coach Karim Nesba had said in a news conference after the previous fixture between the two teams that he felt the trio were competing for places in the South Sudan Olympic team for Paris.
Lual-Acuil stopped short of confirming as much, but had said in the news conference after Ahly Benghazi's defeat on Friday to Al Ahly of Egypt: "I'm really proud of Khaman. He's like a little brother to me. I'm really excited to see where his career goes [but] we didn't come here to be friends with anybody [on the court]."
He and Maluach were kingmakers for their respective sides from the get-go, with City Oilers taking a 22-20 lead by the end of the first quarter.
However, Lual-Acuil and Ahly Benghazi took control in the second quarter. In that alone, the former Baylor center who like Maluach spent a portion of his childhood in Uganda scored 18 points as his side went 52-42 up.
Deng took on much of the scoring responsibility in the third quarter, while City Oilers tried to rally back with Patrick Rembert, Bashir and Randy Culpepper all keeping the scoreboard ticking while Maluach secured his fifth straight double double in points and rebounds.
Ahly Benghazi led 75-66 heading into the final quarter, which started with a Robinson Opong Odoch three-pointer. However, Oilers eventually fell off the pace and Ahly Benghazi took complete control with Solo Diabaté, Kevin Murphy and Lual-Acuil running the floor.
Lual-Acuil broke the BAL scoring record with seconds to spare, as his dunk made it 42 points for him on the evening. Ahly Benghazi won 110-78.
"He's a great person, a great friend and a great basketball player. When he's in the zone like that, just give him the ball and get out the way. Obviously, he'll demand the ball too, which is what great players do," Deng told ESPN in the mixed zone after the game.
Ahly Benghazi are waiting for confirmation of Pierre Jackson's availability for the playoffs, as he has been struggling with injury for much of the Nile Conference and did not play at all in their final game.
In the late encounter, Bangui needed to win or lose by fewer than 16 points to be assured of a spot in the playoffs, as a victory would put them in the Nile Conference top two and a narrow defeat would see them guarantee a spot as one of the two best third-place teams.
In the first quarter, they struggled to keep pace with a rampant and reinvigorated home side, who ran proceedings through Mark Lyons and Omar Oraby in particular and went 28-15 ahead.
Ahly had the better of the second quarter too, stretching their lead to 53-32. Bangui's hopes of clinching a playoff spot without having to rely on results in Dakar were in question.
Thierry Darlan had struggled in the early stages of the game but found himself in the third quarter as Bangui looked to eat into the deficit.
Nevertheless, Ahly's rotation between several scorers ensured they kept a healthy advantage and led 74-53 heading into the final quarter. Ultimately, they saw out the game to win 94-71.
Cape Town Tigers had one win and a points difference of -41 in March's Kalahari Conference in Pretoria, as their defeat to Dynamo BBC fell away from consideration for the rankings as the Burundian side was disqualified over their persistent refusal to wear the "Visit Rwanda" logo.
As the third-placed team in Cairo, behind table-topping Al Ahly of Egypt and second-placed Al Ahly Benghazi, Bangui also had one win against a fellow top three side and therefore needed a points difference better than that of the Tigers in their four matches against the two teams ranked above them.
Bangui's two wins over fourth-placed City Oilers do not count as far as the ranking of third-placed teams goes.
Bangui's overall points difference for the Nile Conference across six games is -20, but their points difference against fellow top three sides is -48, putting them behind the Cape Town Tigers.
The playoffs and finals in Rwanda will take place from May 24 - June 1 and the teams who have already booked their places are: FUS Rabat (Morocco), Petro de Luanda (Angola), Al Ahly (Egypt), Al Ahly Benghazi (Libya) and Cape Town Tigers (South Africa).
The teams competing in the Sahara Conference will be APR (Rwanda), AS Douanes (Senegal), US Monastir (Tunisia) and Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria). Two will automatically qualify, while the third-placed team in that conference, it all depends on having a better record against the top three than Bangui.