Basketball: Bangui Sporting Club, Stade Malien headline last four teams
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Bangui Sporting Club's Ken Gasana with the ball during the game. The Rwandan player who recently joined Bangui based club and teammates closed the group phase undefeated at the Road to BAL Elite 16 Round. Courtesy

The stage is set for the semi-finals of the West Division of the Road to BAL Elite 16 Round as Bangui Sporting Club of Central Africa and Stade Malien Bamako closed the group phase undefeated.

They are joined by Abidjan Basket Club and Seydou Legacy Athletique Club of Guinea who will now battle for the three tickets on offer for the Basketball Africa League (BAL) Season 3.

On Wednesday, November 16, Stade Malien held off Nueva Era Basketball Club 91-64.

In the second game of the day Elan Coton Basketball Club of Benin initially proved a hard nut to crack but finally succumbed to the spirited play of Bangui Sporting Club 62-57.

The third pairing between Forces Armees et Police (FAP) of Cameroon and SLAC was a test game as both sides battled it out to the buzzer.

SLAC coach, Zeljko Zecevic, will have five of his players to thank for the big win 85-75 triumph.

A massive seven blocks by Christopher Obekpa was very loud for the victor. The Nigerian center added 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and an efficiency rating of 23.

Dane Miller Jr (22 points, 14 rebounds), Michael Poole (21 points), Michael Nwabuzor (13) and Ibrahim Kalil Fofana (10 points) proved vital to the Guinean side.

In the last game of the night Association Sportive de Sale of Morocco, who had been eliminated before the closing day, held their ground, not leaving the Elite 16 Round empty-handed as they beat West Division hosts ABC 83-70.

The loss by the Abidjan-based side had little impact to their aspiration of making it to the semi-finals thanks to an opening day 96-59 win over Elan Coton but it surely exposed Coach Franck Michel Silva side.