FUS Rabat are the 2024 Kalahari Conference champions

FUS Rabat on Sunday beat Cape Town Tigers 84-75 in Pretoria to become the first winners of the 2024 Basketball Africa League (BAL) Kalahari Conference.

The Moroccan reigning champions closed their conference campaign with a 3-1 record.

Samkelo Cele and Billy Preston led hosts Cape Town Tigers with 24 and 23 points, respectively, but the night belonged to visitors FUS Rabat who bounced back from a three-point loss to Petro de Luanda three days earlier.

Jonathan Jordan ignited FUS Rabat’s offense with a team-high of 19 points; Aliou Diarra recorded his tenth BAL double-double by finishing with 16 points and 11 rebounds and Ayoub Nouhi added 11 points to the winning cause.

Although FUS Rabat had their largest lead of the game (57-43) midway through the third quarter, the Tigers fought tooth and nail to tie the contest at 59-59 ahead of the fourth quarter.

FUS Rabat’s 4-0 run to start the fourth triggered the Rabat-based team who never trailed again.

“For us the start of the final quarter was like a 0-0; We  knew that the last quarter would be a mental game; We needed to be mentally tougher, and that got us the win,” said forward Ayoubi Nouhi who added 5 assists to his 11 point-contribution.

Reflecting on Diarra’s display, Nouhi noted: “Aliou is a beast. He does it all for us; he blocks shots, he rebounds, he scores, he works really hard for us; we are grateful for him; he has a bright future.”

Jordan, meanwhile, admitted that winning the Kalahari Conference proved challenging.

“It’s a tough conference with a lot of good teams,” he said, adding: “Just to get away with the first place of the conference, it’s a good feeling.”

Jordan paid his admiration to the Kalahari Conference hosts: “Shout-out to the city of Pretoria and the country of South Africa; it’s been an amazing production and an amazing presentation; the crowd was fantastic, the energy was great all week long and I am just thankful we had the opportunity to experience this.”

Tigers forward Preston explained why they lost the game, saying:  “They grabbed more rebounds than us, and that’s where we lost the game. They definitely overpowered us in the paint.”

Both FUS Rabat and Petro de Luanda qualified automatically to the BAL Playoffs while Cape Town Tigers will wait for the end of the other two conferences to find out if they are ensured a postseason spot.