PRETORIA, South Africa -- Cape Verdean side Kriol Star's fairytale run in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) came to an end with a 107-81 defeat to Libya's Al Ahli Tripoli in the first quarter-final on Sunday.
Although their season had featured its off-field struggles - including the exit of three players and a two-game suspension for another, Anderson Correia, after a fight in the team hotel in Dakar - Kriol Star had repeatedly put their struggles aside and outperformed expectations come crunch time.
Second seed Ahli Tripoli came out fired up in the first quarter, seemingly looking to respond with a big performance after suffering their first defeat of the season in the seeding game to Egypt's Al Ittihad.
Seventh seed Kriol Star - who beat FUS Rabat to avoid a clash with Ittihad - leaned heavily on Joel Ntambwe in the early minutes as he scored nine points in the first quarter alone. Ahli Tripoli led 29-18 by the end of the quarter.
Assem Marei, who missed the seeding game defeat to Ittihad due to his delayed arrival in South Africa, had a significant impact. Kenneti Mendes has been a vital cog in the wheel for Kriol Star during this tournament, but even the experienced Cape Verde center struggled to contain the former Galatasaray and Metropolitans 92 big man.
Nevertheless, Kriol Star stayed in the fight throughout the second quarter, with Jalan McCloud and Ivan Almeida playing key roles. By half-time, the Libyan side's lead was 54-40.
Keeping pace with a far deeper roster proved too much for Kriol Star in the third quarter, as Fabian White Jr. led Ahli Tripoli to an 83-54 advantage heading into the final quarter. White did superb work at both ends of the floor, making shots at one end and big defensive plays at the other - notably a huge block on Ntambwe.
Though not quite at his best, Jean-Jacques Boissy provided energy both with his sharpshooting and his trash talk, and he squared up with Ntambwe following White's block.
"It depends on the player... Most of the players see me as the one talking sh*t, but they talk too. It's just that I say something and they get mad, but I don't get mad. I just enjoy the game," Boissy said in the mixed zone when asked if he felt he was able to successfully get inside his opponents' heads.
Jaylen Adams was another instrumental player in Ahli Tripoli's run to open up an unassailable lead. In fairness, Kriol Star did not completely throw in the towel, with Joel Almeida saving some of his best drives for the later stages of the game and McCloud and Ntambwe helping to keep the scoreboard ticking.
However, the evening belonged to Ahli Tripoli and to White, who finished the game with 34 points and 13 rebounds.
Ahli Tripoli will play the winner of Monday's quarter-final between Rwanda's Armée Patriotique Rwandaise (APR) and Nigeria's Rivers Hoopers in the semi-finals, which will take place on Wednesday.