The reigning Champions, Al Ahly of Egypt, have suffered a shattering 89-78 defeat to debutant FUS Rabat in Friday’s classification games at BK Arena.
“It’s a disappointment, we’re tried to prepare our team, but we didn’t deserve to win this game,” said Al Ahly head coach Agustin Bosch in a post-game press conference.
Al Ahly chalked up a first-quarter victory with a one-point advantage, following a neck-and-neck showdown. The Egyptian franchise extended their advantage to eight points in the second quarter heading at halftime, and they retained their resolution in the third quarter, triumphing 64-58.
FUS Rabat rallied back in the final quarter, outscoring Agustin Bosch’s men 31-14 to bring off a monumental 89-78 win and start BAL 2024 playoffs on a high pace.
Aliou Diarra showed the way with a contest-high 21 points and 10 rebounds. Kendrick Brown and Johnathan Jordan had two digits, dropping 20 and 14 points, respectively.
Mark Lyons was the Al Ahly leading scorer as he chipped in 20 points, while Patrick Gardner had 12 points and five rebounds. On the other hand, Libya’s Al Ahly edged out Cape Town of South Africa 88-76.
Robert Golden led the way, contributing 21 points, eight assists, and four rebounds. Cape Town had got off to an impressive start as they prevailed 25-21 in the first quarter, but they crumbled in the second quarter, trailing 47-41 at halftime.
Ivan Jermic’s side extended their lead to 14 points at the end of the third quarter, and they ultimately prevailed 88-76. Majok Deng dropped 18 points and six rebounds for the Libyan team, while Kevin Murphy and Souleyman Diabate scored 13 and 12 points.
Dhieu Deng was Cape Town’s leading scorer Mungisi Ngwenya as the South Sudanese chipped in 21 points while dropping five rebounds. Samkelo Cele scored 16 points.
The BAL 2024 classification games resume on Saturday, May 25, with Petro de Luanda facing off against US Monastir at 2:30 p.m. whereas Rivers Hoopers taking on AS Douanes at 5:30 p.m.
