Nigeria's Rivers Hoopers made it three wins on the trot at this year's Basketball Africa League (BAL) as they thumped 2022 champions US Monastir (Tunisia) 84-63 on Tuesday to come within inches of sealing a spot at the playoffs in Kigali (May 24-June 1). Meanwhile, a scrappy game between Rwanda's APR and hosts Senegal's AS Douanes ended with a 66-61 away win.
Previous matches at this year's Sahara Conference were all relatively tightly fought. This time, in the early tip-off, Rivers Hoopers showed they had no intention of giving Monastir even a sniff of victory as they raced into an early 14-2 lead.
Devine Eke had led the offense for the Rivers Hoopers against AS Douanes on Saturday and Will Perry took on the main scorers' mantle against APR on Sunday. This time, Kelvin Amayo was the kingmaker. By half-time, he already had 20 points - the difference between the sides as Rivers Hoopers led 49-29.
Monastir attempted a fightback in the third quarter with Sadio Doucouré leading the charge, but every time they gained momentum, Rivers Hoopers responded in turn. Heading into the final quarter, the Port Harcourt-based team led 67-51.
Monastir offered little fight in the fourth quarter as Amayo finished with 30 points and 9 assists and Rivers Hoopers saw out a convincing 84-63 win to maintain their perfect record.
"I just want to say I'm truly proud of the bigs, the guards, the coaching staff and the people on the bench. We all fought through; we put up a good three wins and I'm proud of everybody. We all played together," Nigerian-Canadian guard Amayo said in the post-match press conference.
In the evening game, defense was the order of the day. AS Douanes started strongest, leading 17-11 by the end of the first quarter, but Obadiah Noel led an APR fightback as they took a 27-26 lead into half-time.
APR shaded the contest in the third quarter and led 46-42, but a Douanes fightback in the fourth inspired by the home fans kept the contest alive. A dunk from Madut Akec put them 50-48 to the good with around seven minutes to spare. APR fired back to regain the lead shortly afterwards.
APR edged back out to 60-56 in front, but then a clutch three-pointer from Jean-Jacques Boissy put Douanes within one with 32.6 seconds left.
However, APR ground out the game in the closing seconds and ultimately emerged 66-61 winners with Noel's 24 points proving decisive.
Rivers Hoopers are assured of a playoff spot in every scenario except the almost impossible one of a four-way tie on three wins and three teams having a better points differential than them. Even if they finish third, they will go through by virtue of a superior head-to-head record against top three sides compared to Bangui SC (Central African Republic), who finished third at Cairo's Nile Conference.
APR have two wins from three games, Douanes have one and Monastir are winless. Assuming Rivers Hoopers go through, there is at least one more playoff spot up for grabs at this conference for the second-placed team, with the third-placed team potentially also going through depending on their head-to-head results against fellow top three sides relative to that of Bangui in Cairo.
Assuming Rivers Hoopers go through, they will be joined at the playoffs by FUS Rabat (Morocco), Petro de Luanda (Angola), Cape Town Tigers (South Africa), Al Ahly (Egypt) and Al Ahly Benghazi (Libya).