Kriol Star stun Petro de Luanda in overtime to finish 3-3 in the Sahara Conference

On the day Petro de Luanda staged a spectacular comeback, Kriol Star recorded the club's most important win in the Basketball Africa League (BAL).

Shorthanded, BAL debutant Kriol Star stunned the reigning champions, winning 71-69 in overtime.

It was the second overtime win for the Cape Verdeans, who defeated hosts ASC Ville de Dakar 95-92 three days earlier.

Highly favored Petro de Luanda found themselves on unfamiliar territory after Kriol Star went on an 18-0 scoring run to open up a 40-19 lead at the break.

Most of Kriol Star's success was due to their successful 2x3 zone defense, which forced Petro de Luanda to turn the ball over 19 times and missed 23 of their 43 shots.

Aboubacar Gakou gave Petro de Luanda a short-lived 60-58 lead after a spectacular comeback, and when Gakou's teammate Solo Diabate hit a long jumper that most thought was a three-pointer, Petro de Luanda's bench rallied, but it turned out to be a two-point shot, sending the game into overtime at 62-62.

In the extra five minutes, Kriol Star outscored Petro de Luanda 9-7 for the historic win.

The win improved Kriol Star's record to 3-3, while Petro de Luanda, who came into the game on a two-game winning streak, finished the Sahara Conference at 3-3.

Anderson Correia, a former Petro de Luanda player who was on the floor for the entire 45 minutes, told BAL.NBA.COM that the win showed the team's resilience.

Correia said: "This is a team that plays together and brings a lot of energy. That's what we do, we are Cape Verdeans, we are Africans, and we never give up, that's what I told my teammates before the game. As long as we are on the court, we are resilient.”

Playing with an eight-man rotation was never going to be an easy task for Hugo Salgado's team, but it was the opportunity of a lifetime for NBA Academy Africa player Lewis Uvwo.

The 17-year-old caused Petro de Luanda all sorts of problems on both ends of the floor.

Uvwo, who played 40 minutes, shot 5-for-10 and finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds and two big blocked shots.

Correia led the way with 16 points, while Ivan Almeida and older brother Joel Almeida added 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Glofate Buiamba led Petro de Luanda in scoring with 16 points, while Patrick Gardner and Aboubacar Gakou each added 15 points.

"We did incredibly well because nobody expected us to win a game in this group," Correia said.

Kriol Star played for their lives, Correia explained: "Even when we were down, we came back; we had to stay positive; we had to stay together until the end of the game."