Al Ahly are now the African club basketball champions after defeating AS Douanes 80-65 in Saturday’s Basketball Africa League (BAL) final before a sold out BL Arena crowd. Spaniard Agusti Julbe became the first coach to win the championship for the pas three consecutive time after his triumph with Zamalek in 2021 and US Monastir in 2022. But the overall star of the night was South Sudanese Nuni Omot whose performance left a mountain to climb for AS Douanes and hence earned him a Most Valuable Player (MVP) prize. Unlike the previous games, Omot dominated this one, as his contribution proved to be the difference between the opponents. Beyond scoring team high 22 points, the 23-year-old sensation did the bulk of the first quarter scoring for Al Ahly getting a 17-10 lead. AS Douanes star point guard duo Chris Crawford and Boissy could not put up an equal fight. They were struggling by the time Omot’s teammate Amr Zahran got hot from threes early on in the game to send the sellout crowd into a frenzy. However, Boissy became more influential in the second quarter, drawing fouls and dictating the game, with center Adama Diakhite also playing a major role as AS Douanes kept the pressure on the Egyptian champions. Pape Diop levelled the scores at 33-33, but before half-time, Ahly embarked on a five-point scoring run to take a 38-33 lead into the break. Having struggled in the first quarter, Maluach made a big impact at both ends of the court when he was reintroduced in the third, keeping Douanes in the game, but Ahly pulled clear towards the end of the quarter, with Ehab Amin finding his rhythm and Omot continuing to lead the charge. AS Douanes coach Mamadou Gueye, named BAL coach of the year on Friday, tried to be upbeat in his post-match press conference, but his players struggled to contain their emotions, failing to digest the defeat despite the fact that they came into game as underdogs. Diakhite said in the mixed zone that his impressive personal performance doesn't matter, while a visibly upset Boissy said in the press conference that even getting in the All-BAL first team was no consolation for him. The All-BAL first team consisted of AS Douanes’ Boissy, Crawford, Al Ahly’s Omot, Stade Malien’s Diarra and SLAC's Dane Miller Jr. Were
