Angola's Petro de Luanda beat Libya's Al Ahly Ly 107-94 to win their first Basketball Africa League (BAL) title at the fourth time of asking, becoming the fourth different team to win the league.
It was also the first time that a team from southern Africa won the title, with the three previous winners coming from Egypt and Tunisia.
The first quarter was tightly fought with Petro edging in front before Ahly fought back to narrow the deficit to 26-24 heading into the two-minute break.
The Libyan champions took control of the game in the second quarter, with some sloppy turnovers costing Petro dearly. Majok Deng, Robert Golde and Jo Lual-Acuil had been three of the standout players throughout the playoffs and did not let the occasion overwhelm them as they led Ahly into a 52-40 half-time lead.
Petro fought back in the third quarter as their deep bench helped them keep their legs fresh. With just over 2:40 left in the quarter, Lukeny Gonçalves fired a three to put them 68-67 in front. Lual-Acuil landed a free throw to tie the game up again only for Gonçalves to sink yet another three-pointer straight afterwards.
Having tasted heartbreaking defeat in the 2022 final to US Monastir and the semi-finals in 2021 and 2023 to Zamalek and AS Douanes respectively, Petro were as close as they had ever been to touching the trophy that Angolan basketball craved in their already decorated cabinet.
However, Ahly had other ideas and former Petro guard Solo Diabaté wrestled back control of the game. Right before the third quarter ended, Childe Dundão delivered a bucket to tie the scores at 75-75.
First blood in the fourth quarter went to Cleusio Castro, whose dunk drew a huge cheer from the crowd as he put Petro in front.
Nick Faust led the offense for Petro and the Libyan side appeared worn out and short of answers in the fourth quarter.
The Angolan champions gradually grew the lead and back-to-back buckets from Markeith Cummings stretched it beyond 10 points before Faust added another with 1:41 remaining on the clock and then a spectacular dunk with only 1:05 left. Petro all but had both hands on the trophy by then at 105-90 up.
Perhaps the most telling element to Petro's success has been how they have been able to see games out with limited involvement from their esteemed captain, Carlos Morais - arguably the best guard ever to come out of Africa.
He was part of Angola's golden generation which has been on its way out for some time, but the likes of Gonçalves and Dundão have shown that Angolan basketball can still be competitive at the highest level in Africa.
It was elation for Angola's players, new and old, who had fought so hard for so many years to land the most coveted prize in African club basketball as the final buzzer confirmed them as Africa's new champions in a 107-94 win.
Having only got two wins in their first five games this year and changed coaches after going 2-2 in Pretoria's Kalahari Conference, replacing former head coach José Neto with Sergio Moreno, Petro have probably never been less fancied to win the BAL than they were this term.
Perhaps, however, it is the unpredictability that gave them the edge they had lacked while going with the tried and trusted in years gone by.
One constant, according to Cummings, was the leadership of Morais, even with his role on the court reduced.
"He had a lot of words [at half-time] Whenever we go out on the floor, Carlos is the last one to talk. He's a great leader; he's a great competitor and I applaud him because things didn't go his way in this tournament and he stepped up where he could," Cummings said in the mixed zone after the game.
All was not lost for Ahly, as Jo Lual-Acuil won the tournament's MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards. Lual-Acuil previously broke the single game scoring record with 42 points against City Oilers in Cairo's Nile Conference.
"As far as my trophies go, they hold some sort of significance obviously, but I'm naturally a winner; I'm very competitive and I would give away all three of these to get that main trophy because as much as anything, I know what it meant to me and the people of Libya and South Sudan. I feel like I've let a whole nation down and in my case, two nations, I guess," said the South Sudanese-Australian center.
Next year, the BAL might touch new ground for the playoffs, as they have been hosted in Kigali every year since the league's inception in 2021, but the current deal between the NBA Africa and Rwanda includes the playoffs and finals of 2024, 2026 and 2028. An announcement on the destination of next year's BAL locations has not been made.
In the third-place playoff, Nigeria's Rivers Hoopers easily beat Cape Town Tigers to claim the bronze, with both sides reaching the top four for the first time in the BAL's short but fascinating history.