Patience key in Al Ahly Ly’s first-ever BAL win, says Diabate

Al Ahly Ly needed to be patience to win their first-ever Basketball Africa League game on Friday as Bangui Sporting Club made it even harder early in the opening quarter.

But when Kevin Murphy, Solo Diabate, Majok Deng and Pierre Jackson figured it out, the Libyan champions’ 93-71 win told a story of a dominant performance.

“We had to be patience,” Diabate said when reflecting on how Bangui out-played the Libyan champions early in the game.

Bangui scored their first 9 points from beyond the arc as Al Ahly Ly struggled to find answers.

“As a younger team than us, they jumped on us early in the game. Thankfully, we found a way to change the game in our favour,” Diabate admitted.

At some point the game looked more like a three-point contest, and by the final whistle, Al Ahly Ly’s 11 3pt in 26 attempts proved as crucial as their patience to beat a combative Bangui team.

Al Ahly Ly trailed by 6 (29-23) at the end of the opening quarter, but a 15-0 run in the second quarter turned things around for the victors who never trailed again.

Was Al Ahly Ly’s victory a convincing one after a slow start to the game?

“Being our first game in the BAL, it was really important for us to win the game, no matter how. This win gives the team confidence moving forward in the competition,” two-time BAL champion Diabate pointed out.

Murphy, Jackson, Diabate and Deng combined for 78 points in the winning cause while Rolly Fula led Bangui Sporting Club with a team-high of 19 points.

Emeka Nwabuzor, who scored the first points three-points in the 2024 Nile Conference, finished with 8 points and a game-high of 9 rebounds.

Yasser Kamayengue, who had a stellar performance during the BAL qualifying campaign, added 12 off the bench. Jimmy Djimrabaye contributed 9 points, and Thierry Darlan had 7 points for Bangui Sporting Club.

Asked to describe the identity of the newly-built Al Ahly Ly team, following the departure of Chris Crawford, Ater Majok and Zack Lofton, Diabate, who is on his fourth straight BAL season, emphasized the current team’s potential.

“I prefer to believe that in terms of structure, it’s a similar team because we have two great scorers in [Kevin] Murphy and [Pierre] Jackson. Our mindset is to focus on the current team,” Diabate explained.

Al Ahly Ly returns to action on Saturday, taking on hosts Al Ahly SC while Bangui Sporting Club go up against City Oilers.