The first day of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup 2023 saw Basketball Africa League champions, Al Ahly, pick up the continent's first win in the history of the competition, defeating the rising stars who came together in the NBA G League Ignite team. ALSO READ: Al Ahly to Participate in 2023 FIBA Intercontinental Cup The Egyptian squad showed no opening night jitters as they traded blows with the young team from the United States, and their 82-76 win is in line with this year's trend for Egyptian basketball, which is earning a place for itself on the world stage. Al Ahly won the Basketball Africa League, the national team had two wins and nearly booked a direct flight to Paris 2024 at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, and a couple of heroes of that journey went off in the Thursday game to start Group A proceedings in Singapore. Ehab Amin scored a team-high 15 points, with 7 rebounds also to his name, and not a single turnover in 20 minutes of action. Omar Oraby picked up a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double, and he wasn't the only one with a double-double in points and rebounds because Mostafa Kejo collected 10 and 13 off the bench. I feel so happy because we won this game. We always believed we could win, me and my teammates, we worked hard in the game, we believed and that's it, we won, Kejo said after claiming player of the game prize. ALSO READ: Al Ahly drawn in Group A ahead of FIBA Intercontinental Cup He didn't exactly sound over the moon after picking up a first win by any African club in FIBA Intercontinental Cup history. That's because Al Ahly expected to win this game all along. We want to win the second game (against Sesi Franca). We want to play the final, that's our target in this Intercontinental Cup, Mostafa added. A two-time NBA champ with the Miami Heat also did his part for Al Ahly. Norris Cole had 13 points and 9 assists, doing everything to get his teammates involved since his shots weren't falling at 4-of-17 from the field. Ten different players scored for coach Agustin Julbe and all of them played less than 30 minutes, meaning they will be fresh when they return to the court in the Singapore Indoor Stadium in less than 24 hours, facing BCL Americas champions Sesi Franca. ALSO READ: PICTURES: Al Ahly crowned BAL 2023 champions NBA G League Ignite played without two of their starters in Eric Mika and Matas Buzelis, potential lottery picks in the next NBA Draft. Ron Holland, who could end up as the number one overall pick next June, had 15 points and 5 rebounds before fouling out in nearly 30 minutes of playing time. Another 18-year-old was the top scorer of the game, Tyler Smith had 18 points off the bench.
