Al Ahly SC overcome 3-point deficit to reach the 2026 semifinal

Al Ahly SC secured the first semi-final ticket on Sunday, beating ASC Ville de Dakar 87-76 in a strong second half.

The Egyptian champions took to the court needing to overcome their three-point loss in the first quarter-final series against ASC Ville de Dakar, and they achieved just that.

This victory sees them advance to the final four for the first time since winning the BAL in 2023.

ASC Ville de Dakar's nine-point loss marks the end of their season.

Nuni Omot and Zack Lofton led the way for Al Ahly SC, combining for 43 points.

Meanwhile, Axel Toupane, who limped off the court with an apparent leg injury with 7:44 minutes left, led ASC Ville de Dakar with 16 points.

Al Ahly SC began their play-off campaign with a 93–90 loss to ASC Ville de Dakar, but they avoided losing two games in a row for the first time since 2024, when they were knocked out in the quarter-finals. 

Ville de Dakar, on the other hand, went into this decisive game on the back of four consecutive victories. 

However, a combination of excessive fouls in the fourth quarter, Toupane’s hamstring injury, and Al Ahly SC’s extended zone defence proved too much for the Senegalese champions. 

Their dream of becoming the second Senegalese team to reach the semi-finals since AS Douanes in 2023 ended in disappointment. 

Dakar led for most of the second half, but a 13-7 scoring run by Al Ahly SC in the final five minutes changed the course of the game. Notably, no player scored in single digits in the first half. 

Kevin Murphy, who had more rebounds (3) than points (0) in the first half and eventually finished with six points, told BALNBA.COM how significant this win was for Al Ahly SC. 

Murphy said: “It was an important win for the club and for the country of Egypt. Everyone knew how badly we wanted to win this game. We gave it our all. Shots weren’t falling in the first half, but we stuck together and secured this great win.

"We won this game thanks to our defence. We put our heads down and locked in defensively the whole game. We worked hard and maintained our defensive position throughout the game. I've been in this position before, but this time I want to win the whole thing.”

Reflecting on the end of their season, ASC Ville de Dakar forward Mamadou Lamine Diop acknowledged their mistakes while taking some positives from the 2026 BAL season.

Diop said: “We knew we needed to start strongly, but Al Ahly are a great team. Our main goal for this season was to qualify for the quarterfinals, which we achieved, but a second win over Al Ahly and a place in the semi-finals would have been the icing on the cake."

He continued: "We're going home to practice even harder and come back next season. The biggest lesson we are taking away is that there are no small teams in the quarterfinals. Even if you win by ten in the first game, it doesn't mean anything until you finish the job. We committed a lot of fouls early in the fourth quarter, which prevented us from playing more aggressively. We also had some injuries, which made things difficult for us.”

Al Ahly SC will now take on the winner of the game between RSSB Tigers and FUS Rabat in the semi-finals.

BAL