It was a day for upsets in the first set of quarterfinal games played at the BK Arena on Sunday. Defending champions Al Ahly of Egypt failed to go past their rivals from Egypt, while Cape Town Tigers defied all odds to reach their first ever semi finals in the Basketball Africa League.
Interestingly, the two winners of the day had been beaten twice in the Kalahari and Nile Conferences held in March and April 2024, respectively.
For the third consecutive year, defending champions of the BAL will not be defending their titles, just like Zamalek in 2022, US Monastir in 2023, and now Al Ahly Egypt in 2024.
Robert Golden dropped two straight threes to help the Al Ahly Libya take a 38-36 halftime lead.
The Libyan champions outscored Al Ahly Egpyt in the last two quarters to send the Egyptian champions home.
Majok Deng shot 25 points, Lual Lual Acuil added 23, and Robert Golden also scored 23.
Acuil made a double double with 11 rebounds, five assists, three blocks, and two steals to go with it.
In the second quarterfinal of the day, Cape Town Tigers shocked many with their brilliant performance against FUS Rabat. The Tigers defeated Rabat 91-88 in overtime and booked their place in the BAL semi-finals for the first time.
Samkelo Cele played a pivotal role at both ends of the floor for the Tigers, scoring 30 points and 9 rebounds, which was a rebound shy of a double-double. He also had three steals and two blocks.
Four other players finished in double digits: Nkosinathi Siban (16), Cartier Diarra (15), Ngor Santino (13), and Dhieu Deng (12).
Siban also had a career-high 25 rebounds and seven blocks for the Tigers.
The Tigers led for most part of the game but gave up their 10-point lead with 1:40 left to play in the game (80-70).
Rabat tied the game at 80-80 and also got the chance to win it, but Jonathan Jordan missed one of his clutch throws.
At 83-83 with six seconds remaining, Cele shot a buzzer beater to stretch the game to overtime. The Tigers held on as they advanced to their first ever semi finals.
While Cape Town will face either AS Douanes or Petro de Luanda, Al Ahly Liby will wait to play the winner between Rivers Hoopers and US Monastir.
