Luanda - Petro de Luanda seeks this Wednesday, starting at 7 pm, to reach the final in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) for the second time in the match against Cape Town Tigers of South Africa.
In the first edition, in 2021, the Petro was in third position, the following year in second and in the last one it fell to fourth position.
This fourth edition of the competition, which takes place in the capital of Rwanda (Kigali), will witness the third match between the two teams in less than two months.
The Angolans and South Africans played in March at the Kalahari conference in the city of Pretoria, with Petro winning 100-88 in the first game.
In the second, the two-time national champion slammed, by 78 -84.
Nicolas Fauls, the American, purposely signed for the BAL, has been one of the best units on the court, even reaching double digits in the opening two games.
He scored 12 points in the 'tricolores' defeat against Monastir of Tunisia, 67-70, and 13 in the narrow triumph against AS Douanes of Senegal, 66-65.
The story of this last match shows a strong Petro, especially mentally, as he recovered from a 20-point deficit, reaching the triumph in the final seconds with two points from guard Nicolas Fauls.
The Cape Town Tigers, on the other hand, lost to Al Ahly of Benghazi, by 76 -87, and triumphed against Fus Rabat of Morocco, by 91-88, a result obtained in overtime, after a tie in regulation time at 83 points.
In the other semi-final, from 4 p.m., the teams of River Hoopers from Nigeria and Al Ahly from Egypt will play.
Of the four teams playing the semi-finals, only Petro is an all-rounder in this version of the African competition in a League model, sponsored by FIBA-Africa and the NBA.
River Hoopers are in the semi-finals for the second time, while the Tigers and Al Ahly Benghazi are debutants. WR/MC/DOJ
