AS Salé Prevail Over Host DUC, Advance to Playoffs

AS Salé beat Dakar Universite Club (DUC) 91-86 and clinched one of the last two playoffs berths available for the Sahara Conference for the Basketball Africa League (BAL) playoffs in May in Kigali.

Guinea’s SLAC, who concluded their Sahara Conference on Monday, also advance to the last eight of the BAL and are joined by the Conference champions Rwanda Energy Group and US Monastir.

Paced by Abdoulaye Harouna, Terrel Stoglin and Alvaro Masa, the Moroccan champions trailed by two (28-26) in the first quarter, but they regained the lead in the second quarter.

DUC stepped on the floor knowing that beating AS Salé by 13 points was a must-do task to advance to playoffs, and they had an promising start to the game with Bamba Diallo shooting an impressive 6-for-7 to finish the opening quarter with 16 points.

As the only player in double figures in the first ten minutes, Diallo kept powering his team’s offense until AS Salé limited him to just five points in the second quarter.

In contrast, Harouna and Stoglin kept sparking the Moroccan champions’ offense with a combining 31 points as Liz Mills’ team headed to the locker room with a 48-39 lead.

Diallo opened the third quarter score with a three-pointer to cut the gap to 48-42. Adama Diakhite followed it up with lay-up, but the ‘students’ 5-0 run was short-lived as AS Salé responded through a Soufiane Kourdou’s easy layup.

Although DUC continued to show signs of trying to prove doubters wrong, a 12-2 run by AS Salé midway through the final quarter proved detrimental to the Dakar-based team.

With a small number of supporters cheering on them – including the club’s president who watched the game from the courtside seats, AS Salé looked a totally different from the previous games. They battled for every possession, they out-rebounded DUC 45-35 and counted on a productive bench which contributed 16 points.

Stoglin led AS Salé with 30 points, Harouna added 19 points and Masa contributed 16 points and 14 rebounds - his second straight double-double – in the Sahara Conference.

Diallo inspired DUC with his 30 points,  Abel Diop added  14 points and 9 rebounds and Diakhite helped his team with 16 points off the bench.

“We tried to simplify it. We had to win by 13. We said we needed to win each quarter by four point. It was a challenge but we accepted it in the beginning, but we just came up short,” said DUC point guard Hameed Tariq Ali, who contributed 17 points and 15 assists.

Talking about Diallo, Ali exclaimed: “Oh my God!  He was on fire. He is one of best shooters I have ever played with. I was trying to do everything in my power to find him to get him open looks.. He reminded me of Klay Thompson. He’s so good defensively and shoots so well. I am glad I played with him.”

Credit to the DUC crowd who supported the ‘students’ night in night out, and Ali took notice too: “I love it. We can’t ask more support. I know we came up short, but the supporters were here for every game. I have never experienced anything like this. The game is over, but they are still here. It was beautiful. I am glad that I have experienced this. It was a lot better than I thought it would be.

REG (4-1), US Monastir (4-1), AS Salé (3-2) and SLAC (2-3) advanced the playoffs while Ferroviario da Beira (1-4) and DUC (1-4) were eliminated.