Al Ahly see off Maktown and improve to 2-1

One lesson that the Maktown Flyers should learn from their 89–80 loss to Al Ahly is that their bench players must perform when needed and maintain the same level of focus and intensity in the decisive fourth quarter.

The Maktown Flyers' bench could only contribute 16 points compared to Al Ahly’s 52.

In fact, Al Ahly's reserves contributed more than half of their team's total points. This was because coach Linos Gavriel decided to start Wednesday's game with a different starting lineup for the third game in a row. And Kevin Murphy, who came off the bench for the first time, led his team in scoring with 22 points.

James Butler Jr was unstoppable, leading the Flyers with 29 points, but this wasn't enough to prevent the Flyers' second loss in three games.

As in their first three games, the Maktown Flyers scored most of their first points from behind the arc.

However, it was only a matter of time before the Egyptian champions tightened their defence, after which the game changed for the Nigerian side, who initially scored all nine of their points from deep.

When Mohamed Khalaf sank a three-pointer to give Al Ahly a 12–11 lead midway through the opening quarter, Maktown never led again, although they remained close behind.

In the fourth quarter, Al Ahly stepped up their game to secure the win, outscoring Maktown 19–14.

At times, the game resembled a duel between Butler Jr. and Murphy, whose impressive shooting triggered their teams’ offensive.

While Butler Jr. shot 10-for-12 from the floor, including 5-for-5 from deep, Murphy finished with 5-for-10 shooting.

Osayi Osifo did a bit of everything for Al Ahly, shooting 9-for-10 to finish with 20 points, grabbing eight rebounds, and protecting their rim with two blocks.

WHAT THEY SAID

Jawad Adekoya (Maktown Flyers)

“We played well offensively. We need to tidy up a few things on defence. The offence may have faltered slightly in the fourth quarter, but I feel like we showed great grit in this game, and we need to carry that over. We need to put this loss behind us and focus on Club Africain on Friday.”

“We need to continue executing well on offense and limiting turnovers. We also need to improve our pick-and-roll defence; if we do that, teams will find it hard to play against us.”

Ehab Amin (Al Ahly)

“We executed down the line in the fourth quarter. Today we did a better job at executing down the stretch compared to our last game against. We made some stops towards the end of the game, and we made our free throws, unlike in the last game against Ville de Dakar. I think this is the main thing we can take away from this game.”

“Although we started slowly, there was a feeling that we could win at any time. We performed better in the fourth quarter, particularly when we came together and made some crucial stops. Our big men, Oraby and Osayi, did a great job and really helped us, as did Kevin Murphy and Zack.”

OUTCOME

Al Ahly improved their record to 2-1 with two games left while Maktown Flyers dropped to 1-2.

BAL