Omot scores 21, leads Al Ahly past Beira in opening of the Nile Conference

Nuni Omot came up with a ruthless performance on the opening night of the 2023 Nile Conference, leading hosts Al Ahly to a 92-74 win over Ferroviario da Beira.

The South Sudanese international player shot 6 of 10 from the field, including 1 of 2 from 3-point range to finish with a game-high of 21 points.

“Nuni is a great player. He has experience of playing around the world. He is pretty familiar with a lot of the teams and players here. He fit in perfect in the first game,” said Al Ahly guard Corey Webster.

The New Zealander did cause some damage himself, coming off the bench.

Webster contributed 11 points, he had a game-best 7 assists, while Omar Oraby, who scored the first two points in the 2023 Nile Conference, added 15 points and 6 rebounds in the winning cause.

The 18-point winning margin reflected Al Ahly’s dominance for the of the 40 minutes.

The Egyptian champions never trailed, and, at some point, led by as many as 22 points.

Ehab Amin, who recently won the 2023 Egypt Cup MVP award, watched the game from the side-lines.

Despite entering the game as underdogs, Beira never really backed down.

The Mozambique champions used a 9-0 run in the second quarter; out-rebounded Al Ahly 48-36, they even forced their opponents to turn the ball over 15 times (four more than Beira), but their offense game plan was a let-down (10 assists).

The under-sized Beira had to rely on 6’10 Bourama Sidibe to oppose a taller and bigger Al Ahly side.

Bourama spent the entire first three quarters on the floor before taking a breather after picking his fourth foul one minute into the final quarter.

Bourama didn’t return to the floor.

“I haven’t played that long in almost two years because of some knee issues and things like that,” said Bourama who finished with 17 points and game-high 7 rebounds.

“I am proud that I was able to help the team for that long period of time on the floor,” the Malian center added.

“He was the only one who was scoring and rebounding. I couldn’t take him out of the game,” Beira coach Luiz Hernandez admitted.

William Perry had a quiet first half, contributing just 5 points, but he kept his best for last to finish with a team-high of 18 points.

Ismael Nurmamade, the other Beira player to score in double digits, contributed 12 points.

It was Al Ahly’s first win at a continental competition since winning the FIBA Africa Champions Cup 2016 in Cairo.

For Webster, that is the way forward.

“It was a good win, hopefully we can build on that,” Webster said, adding: “We showed period of the games that we were really good, but we let them back in the game. We can’t afford to do that against better teams. But each game, we are getting better and better, and we’ll get used to play with each other.”

Talking about his BAL debut, Webster called it “a good experience for myself.”

He went on saying that he’s yet to get to his best level. “I haven’t played a game in about a month. I’m really trying to get my fitness back, get my rhythm back, but it’s great to get out there and play on a good team. It was a good win.”

Both Al Ahly and Beira return to action on Friday when they take on City Oilers and Petro de Luanda, respectively.