Friday, May 5
*Petro De Luanda (Angola) 91-90 – Al Ahly (Egypt)
*City Oilers (Uganda) 96-75 CFV Beira (Mozambique)
Saturday, May 6
*Cape Town (South Africa) Vs City Oilers (Uganda) – 4pm
*Al Ahly (Egypt) Vs SLAC (Guinea) – 8:30pm
Table
- Petro De Luanda 🇦🇴 5-0
- Al Ahly 🇪🇬 3-1
- CFV Beira 🇲🇿 2-3
- Cape Town 🇿🇦 1-3
- SLAC 🇬🇳 1-3
- City Oilers 🇺🇬 1-3
City Oilers beat CFV Beira to revive their chances of reaching the playoffs of the ongoing Basketball Africa League.
The Oilers who lost their three opening games, were grasping at straws and needed two wins in their remaining two games.
And there was less hope that the Oilers could actually stop Beira after falling to Guinean side SLAC in their third game.
But after quickly getting out of the blocks to lead 23-16, Oilers never looked back in a game they won by 21 points to get a good fighting stance.
The Ugandan champions have a chance to reach the playoffs if they beat Cape Town Tigers in their last game on Saturday.
“We are fighting for our lives, we had two games, we had to win both, today we won the first one and we now focus on the last one. The job is not done yet but we are happy for the win,” said City Oilers coach Mande Juruni.
“We just have to prepare mentally and guys getting to know that it’s the next win that takes us to BAL.”
The Oilers went small, with Jimmy Enabu given a starting berth while big man William Ngor was left on the bench.
And notably, Shooting guard Tonny Drilleba made his debut minutes count with 12 points off the bench.
James Justice (25), Falando Jones (24) and Germaine Roebuck (23) led the Oilers in scoring.
It was generally an improved performance in comparison to the first three games, and the side will be required to double their efforts once again in Saturday’s winner-qualifies affair.
Oilers sit bottom of the six-team group where the top four, on Saturday, will qualify for the Playoffs in Rwanda.
Petro De Luanda and Al Ahly have taken the two slots, with the final two slots still up for grabs going into the finals day.
If the Oilers beat Cape Town, they will automatically eliminate the South Africans who will have remained on just one win.
Meaning, Oilers and and CFV Beira will be on two wins with a record of 2-3.
But SLAC who will play at 8:30pm against hosts Al Ahly, are still on 1-3. If the Guineans win, they will also improve to 2-3.
Meaning, three teams – Beira, Oilers and SLAC – are on 2-3.
To determine who finishes 3, 4 and 5; the tie breakers go down to head to head (which is tied), then to point differential in the games between the sides.
In the games between the three sides; SLAC have a +16, Oilers have a -7 and Beira have a -9. SLAC and Oilers will go through as 3 and 4.
