Petro becomes first team to reach 100-point mark in the 2023 Nile Conference

Petro de Luanda’s depth showed up on Saturday to beat Ferroviario da Beira 101-76.

Twelve of thirteen Petro players scored 3 points or more each to help the Angolan champions improve to 2-0 in the Nile Conference.

Carlos Morais set the tone for Petro by making 4 of his 5 three-point attempts in the first 7 minutes of the game.

He eventually finished with a game-high of 18 points on a 5 for 10 shooting from beyond the arc.

Gerson Goncalves and Aboubacar Gakou added 11 points apiece, and Damian Hollis contributed 12 points off the bench.

Glofate Buiamba finished his four shots with thunderous dunks to go with a 100 percent field-goal in 10:18 minutes on the floor.

Petro became the first team to reach the 100-point mark in the 2023 Nile Conference.

Beira coach Luiz Hernandez called Petro, “the best team in Africa,” with players that can make a difference at any given moment.

For the second straight game, Petro had a slow start, a moment that allowed its opponent to grow in confidence.

And that became clear when Najael Young’s buzzer-beater 3-pt cut the deficit to 47-39 at halftime.

However, Petro outscored Beira 31-17 in the third, and they never looked back.

Beira’s leading scorer Will Perry was limited to just 3 points at the end of the third, before adding 4 more later in the game.

With Perry struggling to score, Najael Young, Ismael Nurmamade and Makhtar Gueye took the lead, combining for 45 Beira points.

Bourama Sidibe picked his fourth foul in the third quarter and was limited to just 5 points and 4 rebounds.

Asked to describe what separate Beira from Petro, Gueye said: “They have depth; their rotation helped them a lot; they made big shots that we couldn’t contest.”

And to make matters worse for Beira, its bench was outscored 47-19.

“It’s tough. We need our bench to help us a bit more,” Gueye told the bal.nba.com, adding: “We need guys to step up; We know we have the personnel to win games.”

Beira dropped to 0-2 with three games remaining in the conference.

“We are in a very tough situation,” Gueye admitted.

“Those three games are like three finals for us. The other teams are aiming for the same thing as us, so, we need to step up.”

When asked about his solid performance of 13 points and 6 rebounds, Gueye credited his mom.

“My mom told me I had to play harder and play with confidence. She really motivated me to step up today. I felt no pressure at all, and my game just showed up naturally.”

Beira takes on SLAC on Sunday, while Petro de Luanda goes up against Cape Town Tigers.