Saturday As Douanes 70-76 ABC Fighters Home side AS Douanes’s early hopes for a ticket to the Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2023 playoffs were dealt to a huge blow after they lost their Sahara Conference opening game to debutants ABC Fighters 70-76 on Saturday evening despite playing before their home supporters at Dakar Arena, Senegal. ABC, led by Liz Mills, the only female head coach at the Sahara Conference, won the first two quarters 25-14 and 18-15 go into half time lead leading the game with 43- 29. Back in second half, point guard Terrell DeVon Stoglin and former Patriots Chris Crawford stepped up with a brilliant combination as they pushed to orchestrate a comeback to bring the home side back to the game. The team won the third quarter 17-15 and final quarter 22-18 but the efforts were not enough to outclass the Ivorian side which held on to win the game 76-70, their first victory ever in the club’s BAL regular season debut. Star shooting guard Amadou Abdoulaye Harouna grabbed 25 points and 7 rebounds for ABC while teammate Seydougou Fofana Santis added 21 points and 8 rebounds. On AS Douanes’ side, point guard Terrell DeVon Stoglin scored 21 points, while Crawford added 17 points and 6 rebounds. The regular season return to action on Sunday, March 12, when Rwandan representatives REG start their expedition against Nigeria's Kwara Falcons at 4pm, Kigali Time while Tunisia’s US Monastir will begin their title defense against Stade Malien on at 9:30 pm.
