The 2024 Basketball Africa League (BAL) Playoffs tipped off at Kigali’s BK Arena as Libya’s Al Ahly Ly defeated South Africa’s Cape Town Tigers 87-76 and Morocco’s FUS Rabat beat the defending champion Egypt’s Al Ahly 89-78 in their seeding games last night.
Robert Golden led Al Ahly Ly with 21 points, four rebounds and nine assists, with Majok Deng adding 18 points, three rebounds and six assists.
Al Ahly Ly dominated the game offensively converting 49.3 per cent of their shots, outrebounded the Tigers 53-36, and all that despite recording 20 turnovers on the postseason’s opening night.
The Tigers could not find their rhythm throughout long stretches of the game. They were led by Dieu Deng (21 points and five rebounds) and Samkelo Cele (16 points assists and five assists), who shot 35 and 33 per cent from the floor, respectively.
Meanwhile in the second game of the night, 2023 BAL Defensive Player of the Year Aliou Diarra got 21 points and 10 rebounds, Kendrick Brown added 20 points and five assists, and FUS Rabat made a statement winning their seeding matchup against the reigning champion.
The scoreline was close throughout the first three quarters, but FUS took care of business in the fourth, outscoring their rivals 31-14 in the last 10 minutes.
Al Ahly were led by Mark Lyons (20 points) and Patrick Gardner (12 points, five rebounds).
Last night’s seeding games set up Sunday’s quarterfinal matchups – Al Ahly Libya will face Al Ahly of Egypt at 2:30 p.m. CAT, and FUS Rabat will take on Cape Town Tigers at 5:30 p.m. CAT.
The seeding games are returning to BK Arena this afternoon with Angola’s Petro de Luanda facing Tunisia’s US Monastir at 2:30 p.m. CAT, while Nigeria’s Rivers Hoopers are taking on Senegal’s AS Douanes at 5:30 p.m. CAT.
The 2024 BAL season is reaching fans in 214 countries and territories in 17 languages through free-to-air and will be broadcast on SuperSport 9 across Africa.