Basketball Africa League season three debutants, Abidjan Basket Club recorded an upset following a 90-74 win over the reigning champions US Monastir at the Dakar Arena on Friday.
Amadou Abdoulaye Harouna scored a game high 33 points and made four of his 12 three-point attempts in 39 minutes on the floor.
Harouna shot a buzzer beater from half court without looking as ABC took a 5 point-lead to the break (41-36).
The Nigerien scored 15 points, 3-of-8 from the deep and 4 rebounds with 2 steals in the first half.
ABC shot 12/30 (20 points) in the paint while the Tunisian champions had 8/10 from the paint (14 points) and turned the ball over 13 times against 5 made by the former in the first half.
Harouna added 3 assists , 3 steals and went 83% from the free throw line.
The former AS Sale guard stretched ABC’s lead to 12 points including a 3 pointer (76-64) with 4:57 minutes remaining on the clock.
Mike Fofana contributed 18 points, 4 rebounds and shot 4/7 from behind the arc while Stephane Konate added 15 points and made 8 of 9 from the line.
Monastir suffered 23 turn overs and were outrebounded 37-41 by Abidjan Basket Club.
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Jerome Randle (25), Ibrahima Thomas (14) both combined for 39 points of 74 shot by Monastir.
Thomas had a double-double with 10 rebounds and dropped three 3-pointers in the game with two coming in the first quarter of the game.
With 1:56 left to play, Randle dropped a 3 to cut the deficit to 7 which forced a time out by ABC.
The debutants came back aggressive and took control of the game leaving Monastir to fight another day.
ABC Fighters improved to a 2-1 record with the win over the reigning champions US Monastir.
US Monastir’s last defeat in the BAL happened on 14 March 2022 during the Sahara Conference at the Dakar Arena, when they lost 77-74 to Rwanda Energy Group.
ABC will next face Kwara Falcons on Monday while US Monastir will play against REG.
Image credit: BAL
