A week after beating Patriots BBC, the hosts of the inaugural Basketball Africa League (BAL), in the group stages, US Monastir defeated the Rwandan champions 87-46 on Saturday to join Zamalek in the BAL Final.
It was the Tunisians’ second-largest winning margin of the BAL season, their largest coming in a 113-66 win over Madagascar GNBC.
The Patriots stepped on the court ready to upset the No. 1 seeded team. The lead changed hands four times, with US Monastir ahead 16-14 after the opening quarter.
Prince Ibeh drew two early fouls in the first half, forcing Patriots head coach Alan Major to remove him to protect him from an early exclusion from the game. The Tunisians took advantage of Ibeh’s absence, adjusted offensively and they went on to open a 37-22 halftime lead, thanks to a 17-0 run in the second quarter.
US Monastir never looked back after opening up the early lead, forcing the Patriots to turn the ball over 26 times.
Dieudonne Ndizeye, the only Patriots BBC player to score in double digits, had 13 points on 4-for-13 shooting, including 2-for-6 from long range; Kenneth Gasana and Ibeh finished with eight points apiece.
Meanwhile, Tunisia international player Omar Abada was on fire, tallying game highs with 18 points and five assists. Four other US Monastir players, including Marcus Crawford, Wael Arakji, Majok James and Firas Lahyani scored in double digits combining 46 points.
“After the first quarter we regrouped and decided that it was time to stop them from making those crazy shots. We played more aggressively, and that’s how we won the game,” said US Monastir power forward Makrem Ben Romdhane.
US Monastir assistant coach Safouen Ferjani recalled that his team is in Kigali “to win the BAL title.”
During a post-game presser, Major said that “it was a bad day for a good team.”
In the other semifinal, Zamalek beat Petro Atletico 89-71 to advance to the final.
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