Petro de Luanda advance to the BAL semifinals for the fifth time in a row

Thanks to Patrick Gardner's lethal plays, Petro de Luanda reached the semifinals of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) for the fifth consecutive season. No other team in the league's history has reached such a milestone.

The Angolan champions needed to bounce back from their loss in the seeding game to APR just two days earlier. Beating US Monastir, a team they had lost to three times in their previous four encounters, was essential.

US Monastir and Petro de Luanda traded blows early in the game. However, when the reigning champions used a 12-0 scoring run to close the opening quarter with a 12-point lead (28-16), there was little the 2022 BAL champions could do to retake the lead.

Petro de Luanda beat US Monastir 95-84, improving their season record to 4-4.

Gardner shot 5-for-9 from the floor, including 3-for-5 from deep, to finish with 14 points. His teammate, Kendrick Ray, led all players in scoring with 20 points. Yanick Moreira was dominant in the paint, finishing with 15 points and five rebounds, despite picking up three early fouls. This forced coach Sergio Moreno to protect Moreira from an early exclusion from the game.

Gardner’s two consecutive three-pointers in the first quarter paved the way for Petro de Luanda’s control of the game.

And, limiting the Tunisia giants’ actions on both ends of the floor by forcing Acuil Deng, Babacar Sane, and Osiris Eldridge into foul trouble early on was key for Petro de Luanda.

Sane caused Petro de Luanda some discomfort on offense and finished with 14 points before fouling out early in the fourth quarter.

With the 11-point loss, US Monastir was eliminated in the quarterfinals for the second consecutive season, while Petro de Luanda, whom they defeated in the 2022 BAL Final, remains in contention.

Patrick Hardy Jr. and Firas Lahyani combined for 32 points for US Monastir, but Petro de Luanda's aggressiveness and sense of urgency on both ends of the floor were tough to deal with.

To make matters worse for the Tunisian champions, head coach Vasco Curado received a second technical foul and was subsequently ejected from the game later in the fourth quarter.

“We didn’t play our game. We struggled to find our offensive flow. We weren’t aggressive enough on defense,” said US Monastir veteran Mokhtar Ghayaza, who shot 3-for-3 and made all four of his free throws to finish with 10 points off the bench.

"They scored 12 or 15 consecutive points in the first quarter, making it difficult for us to bounce back," added Ghayaza, who is in his fifth straight BAL season.

He offered some insightful views on US Monastir’s season. He said, "It wasn't a bad season for us. We built a good team. Maybe due to the intensity of the Tunisian league, where we played many games, some local players got tired and injured, which made this season challenging for us.”

When asked about the cost of shooting 27-for-61 (44%) against Petro de Luanda’s 51%, Ghayaza replied: "This is what the BAL is all about. You have one bad game, and you can compromise the whole season.”

Childe Dundao, who played only five minutes off the bench in Petro de Luanda’s 75-57 loss to APR, was one of three new starters, along with Samkelo Cele and Patrick Gardner.

Dundao shot 3-for-6, including 2-for-4 from behind the arc, and finished with 10 points and six assists.

He told BAL.NBA.com, "This Petro de Luanda team is a group of warriors, and everyone knows our goal for this BAL season. We can’t afford to get comfortable. We will keep fighting no matter the circumstances.”

"We can't be judged solely on our loss in the seeding game. To bounce back, we needed to lock in defensively, which is what we did to beat Monastir,” Dundao explained.

Petro de Luanda will face Al Ittihad Alexandria in one of the two semifinals on Wednesday.

Dundao shared his thoughts on the Egyptian champions, saying: "Al Ittihad is a very good team, but we have a goal to accomplish. We're taking it one game at a time.”