AS Salé's Harouna has extra motivation for quarter-final clash against Petro de Luanda

It’s been almost a year since Abdoulaye Harouna tasted a bitter defeat to Petro de Luanda while playing for FAP in the group-phase of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), but the Nigerien hasn’t gotten over that defeat yet.

On May 20, 2021, Harouna’s FAP did everything right to cause what would have been a major upset in the BAL.

The Cameroonian champions not only out-rebounded Petro 46-43 and forced the former African champions to turn the ball over 27 times, but they also limited the Angolan champions to 66 points - their fewest points scored in a BAL game. 

With eight seconds left and Petro de Luanda up by 2 points, FAP used a full-court press, forcing Childe Dundao to turn the ball over with 1.5 second left.

FAP called a time out, but in the inbound, it was Harouna’s turn to turn the ball over just over the final buzzer.

Harouna stills believes that he was fouled, but Petro prevailed 66-64. 

Now playing for AS Salé, Harouna thinks there’s an unfinished business with Petro de Luanda.

“It’s a game that I am still mad about because I still feel that I got fouled in the last play and they won by two,” the 29-year-old recalled in an interview with the bal.nba.com.

“If the referee had called that one foul, I would have probably hit both free-throws, and, in overtime we would have probably got them. But that’s last year.”

AS Salé and Petro will open the 2022 BAL quarterfinals on May 21 in Kigali, Rwanda.

The winner of the highly anticipated clash moves on to the semi-finals, while the losing team misses on the chance to contend for the BAL title.

“That loss gives me extra motivation,” Harouna said about his last experience against Petro.

Winners of the 2017 FIBA Africa Champions Cup, AS Salé can’t be compared to last year’s FAP, Harouna noted.

“We are talking about two different teams. Last year nobody knew about FAP,” the former University of Miami Redhawks standout explained. 

“People didn’t even know we could have reached the quarterfinals.” 

“Now, with this AS Salé team, the expectation is to get to the final and win it all.” 

The Nigerien international player went on saying: “We have a talented team; everything is actually in place for us to go all the way up and win it all. That’s the goal, and that’s what we’re getting ready for.”

Despite a slow start to the Sahara Conference in Dakar in March, the Rabat-based team advanced to the BAL playoffs with a 3-2 mark.

And Harouna, who played a major role in Dakar with averages of 19.8 points and 3.6 assists per game, remains upbeat about the team’s improvement. 

“Right now, we are just working on our defence. If we get that figure out well, we’ll be fine.”

Playing alongside the BAL leading scorer Terrel Stoglin might be a daunting experience for a terrific scorer like Harouna, but that’s not how he sees it.

“I am a scorer too. A lot of people think that his game is affecting me because I am playing at point guard, but at this point for me, it doesn’t matter. I am trying to win basketball games. Whatever it takes to win, that’s what it matters to me.”

He considers himself a natural point who can easily adjust to the shooting guard and small forward roles.

The 6-foot-4 guard says that AS Salé can’t be judged by their struggles in Dakar as they had limited time to prepare.

Now that the Moroccan League is in full swing and AS Salé are doing well ahead of the playoffs, Harouna couldn’t be any more confident.

“Everybody on our team knows their role, which makes things easier. That’s why we finished strong in Dakar.”

Talking about the BAL quarterfinal clash next week, Harouna described it as one of the most important games of the season for AS Salé. 

“Every game from now on is a final for us. That’s how I look at it.”

“That’s an Angola team [he laughs],” he said when discussing Petro de Luanda’s strengths and weaknesses.

“We all know them from watching them on the national team.”

“I have watched them this year, they play well, they finished second in the [Nile] conference, and they only lost to Zamalek. You can say whatever you want to say outside of the court, but until that ball is thrown up, it’s nothing. You have to get out there and win games.”

When AS Salé and Petro faced off in the 2021 BAL quarterfinals, the latter prevailed.