South Africa's Cape Town Tigers and Nigeria's Rivers Hoopers are set to lock horns in the third place game of BAL 2024 at BK Arena, on Friday, May 31.
Far from being the highest-ranked teams in the build-up to the BAL Season 4, Rivers Hoopers and Cape Town Tigers contributed massively to the unexpected end of the season.
Cape Town stunned top-seed FUS de Rabat 91-88 in overtime in the Quarter-Finals - in what many describe as the biggest achievement for any South African team -, while Rivers Hoopers scored one more point than Tigers to knock out the 2022 BAL winners US Monastir 92-88 in the Quarter-Finals.
Hoopers and Tigers did everything they possibly could to try to cause the most unexpected Final in BAL history, but both teams came up short in the Semi-Finals, both losing in overtime.
While Rivers Hoopers were outscored 89-83 against Al Ahly Ly, Cape Town Tigers fell to Petro de Luanda 96-86.
Now, the two teams that have never faced off in the BAL, will throw their last blows to take home the bronze medal.
Although Tigers and Hoopers made it to the Third-Place Game of the 2024 BAL season, they experienced two different routes to the postseason, considering their records in the regular season.
Rivers Hoopers won the 2024 Sahara Conference with a 4-2 mark while Cape Town Tigers finished third in the Kalahari Conference, but qualified to the postseason after finishing with one of the best two third-placed teams from across the three conferences.
Ahead of their clash, Hoopers and Tigers hold a postseason 1-2 record each.
Comparatively, Hoopers have played two more games (9) than the Tigers (7) because of the Dynamo’s disqualification during the Kalahari Conference.
However, based on both teams’ three postseason games so far, figures show that:
Hoopers center Peter Olisemeka averages a league-high 5 offensive rebounds per game.
Hoopers guard Kelvin Amayo averages a team-best of 7 assists per game.
Hoopers guard Will Perry averages a team-high of 18 points per game
Tigers’ guard Samkelo Cele appears as one of the season leading scorers with averages of 21 points (one point fewer than Jo-Lual Acuil Jr.)
The first time Rivers Hoopers played a game that went to overtime in the postseason, the Nigerian champions fell short to Al Ahly Ly, although the Port Harcourt-based team played in the first-ever BAL game to go into a double-overtime during the Sahara Conference against Rwanda’s APR.
Rivers Hoopers average 45 rebounds per game compared to Cape Town’s 38
The Tigers played two overtime games, losing one (against Petro) and winning another (against FUS Rabat).
The Tigers played two overtime games, losing one (against Petro) and winning another (against FUS Rabat).
Rivers Hoopers scored an average of 77 points while giving up 80 points per game.
Cape Town scored an average of 84 points while giving up 90 points per game.