Petro v Monastir, AS Douanes v Rivers Hoopers in Game-day 2 action

The last two 2024 BAL Quarter-Finals fixtures will be decided on Saturday when AS Douanes, Petro de Luanda, Rivers Hoopers and US Monastir take to the floor at BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.

Only one of the four teams – Rivers Hoopers – in Saturday’s BAL action has never reached the Final.

The first game of the day, at 2:30pm (local time), will see Petro de Luanda go up against US Monastir in a rematch of the 2022 BAL Final.

Three hours later, AS Douanes and Rivers Hoopers will face off for the third time in less than a month.

One thing that these four teams won’t be short of is a scouting report on their opponents.

On May 28, 2022, US Monastir and Petro de Luanda recorded 15 lead changes in a nerve-racking Championship Game.

The Angolan champions led at half-time (40-33) and headed to the final ten minutes with a 59-57 advantage. However, US Monastir outscored Petro 18-7 in the last five minutes to lift their first-ever BAL trophy.

Except for the new coaches at the helm of both teams, very little has changed with Petro de Luanda keeping 7 players from that herculean encounter two years ago, while five players returned for US Monastir.

Petro de Luanda, who finished 2-2 in the Kalahari Conference, and US Monastir, who recorded a 3-3 mark in the Sahara Conference, hit the free-agency market as recently as two weeks ago to bolster their chances in the postseason.

While Petro de Luanda signed in Nicholas Faust, US Monastir brought in former G-League guard Avry Holmes, who starred for Santa Cruz Warriors

WHO TAKES THE LEAD?

When Hoopers and AS Douanes faced off in the Sahara Conference last month in Dakar, Senegal, the two teams shared one win apiece.

Nigerian champions Rivers Hoopers won the 2024 Sahara Conference with a 4-2 record while AS Douanes finished second with a 3-3 mark.

The question now is, Who takes the lead - AS Douanes or Rivers Hoopers?

Led by Kelvin Amayo, Will Perry, Devine Eke and Peter Olisemeka, the Hoopers showed in Dakar that they can compete and beat any team, and facing a familiar face on Saturday might prove what they are made of.

The fact that Rivers Hoopers beat AS Douanes by nine (77-68) and lost by two (56-54) in the final second of the game indicates how evenly-matched these two teams are.

AS Douanes are looking to return to the final for the second straight season, while Rivers Hoopers, the first Nigerian team to qualify for the BAL Playoffs, continue to defy the odds.

Both games will be available on the bal.nba.com, NBA app, BAL TV partners and The BAL YouTube channel.