Al Ahly SC are the winners of the 2024 Nile Conference

A year after finishing second in the Nile Conference, Al Ahly SC trounced Bangui Sporting Club 94-71 to become the new winners of the conference.

The Egyptian champions closed their Nile Conference campaign with a 5-1 record.

Four Al Ahly SC players, led by Prince Ali, scored 10 points or more each to help the reigning BAL champions register another expressive triumph.

It's Al Ahly SC's first conference title since the inception of the BAL season system introduced last year when they finished second to Petro de Luanda.

Al Ahly SC had already secured their playoffs spot in May in Kigali on Friday evening, but they needed to beat Bangui SC to win the conference.

On the other hand, Bangui could have won the conference with a win by more than 7 points over Al Ahly SC, but they couldn't lose by more than 16 points to finish as one of the two best third-placed teams to advance to the next round.

Patrick Gardner who helped the Egyptian giants with 10 points and 7 rebounds, insisted their team cohesion was key in their success.

"Our togetherness and toughness and the way that we closed out games were key. We stuck together, I think that was the big vocal point throughout the six games that we played. I am very proud of my team for doing really well in these games."

Jimmy Djimrabaye led Bangui SC with 10 points and 11 rebounds; Kurt Weigscheider and Thierry Darlan finished with 16 and 15 points, respectively, but their effort wasn't enough to deny the reigning BAL champions.

Bangui SC (3-3) will now wait for the outcome of the Sahara Conference (May 4-12) in Dakar to find out if their point-differential is good enough to send them to the next round.

"If it's meant to be, we'll make it there, if it's not, we'll give another try in the upcoming years," said Bangui SC guard Nyang Wek.