Ferocious Kriol Star improve to 2-2 with win over ASC Ville de Dakar

They may be self-proclaimed underdogs, but on Thursday night there was nothing underdog about Kriol Star's competitiveness as they overcame all sorts of adversity to keep their postseason aspirations intact.

Kriol Star took the floor knowing that beating host ASC Ville de Dakar was a must, and they did everything right to win 95-92 in overtime.

It was Kriol Star's second straight win over ASC Ville de Dakar.

With Kriol Star's win, all four teams in the Sahara Conference are tied at 2-2 with two games remaining for each contender.

Aided by a near sellout crowd at the Dakar Arena, ASC Ville de Dakar dominated the paint with authority, finishing with more offensive rebounds (24) than Kriol Star's defensive boards (23). They won the rebounding battle 58-34, but three more turnovers - for a total of 16 - in the extra five minutes proved costly for Libasse Faye's team.

With the game seemingly under control for the hosts, Ivan Almeida drove through a static ASC Ville de Dakar defense and finished with a thunderous one-handed dunk to send the game into overtime at 83-83.

With both teams over the foul line, the Creoles went to the line and made four of five free-throws to beat ASC Ville de Dakar for the second time in four days.

Patrick McGlynn, who missed the first meeting between Kriol Star and ASC Ville de Dakar with an injury, was the villain of the piece, shooting 9-for-23 for a season-high 29 points.

Ivan Almeida was one rebound shy of a double-double with 22 points and nine rebounds, Teotonio Do shot 3-for-6 from behind the arc to contribute 11 points off the bench and Cameroon Parker had 19 points for the victors.

Makhtar Gueye was 5-for-9 from long range for a team-high 20 points, but the night belonged to Kriol Star.

Gueye told BAL.NBA.COM: "This one hurts a lot because this was - I can say this - our ticket to SA (South Africa). Now we just have to come back and fight for two more games and win them.

Gueye even tried to elaborate on how they struggled to stop Kriol Star, but admitted: "They made some tough baskets, we played our best defense, we made some mistakes - myself included - and they capitalized on them. I think those mistakes were the key to the game today.”

Ivan Almeida later explained how they upset Kriol Star for the second game in a row, saying: "We are the underdogs and we can't deny that. It's our first time in the BAL; some of our players, including myself, have never played in this competition before, but we're a great group and we're on the same level as the other teams; it's just a matter of staying together as a team.”

Almeida congratulated "ASC Ville de Dakar for a great game. It was a great spectacle for the fans and for the BAL brand".

He continued: "As a team we grinded out the game. We were a little sluggish in the beginning, but we kept grinding and kept playing defense together. Overall, we were very solid as a team; we kept helping each other out.”

Asked about the significance of their second win over ASC Ville de Dakar, Almeida replied: "It doesn't mean anything yet because our focus is on the next game. We will go to the lab, watch the film and prepare well. We need to get two more wins".

Kriol Star take on US Monastir on Saturday, while ASC Ville de Dakar face Petro de Luanda.