Monday, May 27
Rivers Hoopers 92-88 US Monastir
Petro de Luanda 66-65 AS Douanes
Nigerian champions Rivers Hoopers overcame Tunisian giants US Monastir in 92-88 victory on Monday night to book a semifinal slot in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) finals which are underway in Kigali.
Ogoh Odaudu’s team played their hearts out, fighting for every possession putting everything on the line. In the end, history was made.
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The Hoopers, the first Nigerian side to reach BAL semifinals, will play Libya’s Al Ahly Ly on Wednesday, May 29, in a game that will decided the finalist of the competition’s 2024 edition.
The Port Harcourt-based team came a long way to reach this stage of the Pan-African basketball league.
After finishing 1-2 during the inaugural season in 2021 and missing the following two seasons, the Nigerian champions felt it was time for a change. Right at the start of the 2024 BAL season, Odaudu warned they were built and prepared to make history - and history indeed being made.
It all started early this month in Dakar, Senegal, where they won the Sahara Conference with a convincing 4-2 mark.
Even though the Hoopers fell short to AS Douanes in the classification round in Kigali, they stepped up when it mattered most, and US Monastir paid the price for facing a team eager to write their own BAL history.
The Nigerians’ determination was so intense that they trailed by one (16-15) in the opening quarter, but, once they regained the lead, they never looked back, leading by as many as 12 points.
In his third BAL season, after two consecutive stints with Ferroviário da Beira, Will Perry had only one goal in mind, to try the BAL playoffs experience.
And he played one of his best BAL games.
On Monday, Perry shot 9-for-15 to finish with a game-high of 33 points while dishing out 5 assists.
Rivers Hoopers team manager Ifie Ozaka, the man behind the club’s rebuild, was lost for words minutes after the game.
Meanwhile, Petro de Luanda became the last team to reach the BAL semifinals after a stunning late 20-point comeback to beat AS Douanes of Senegal 66-65 at BK Arena.
The Angolan champions go up against South Africa’s Cape Town Tigers in the semi-finals on Wednesday, May 29.