Petro v SLAC; Beira v Cape Town - PREVIEW

The 2023 Nile Conference is reaching a crucial milestone on Wednesday when SLAC go up against Petro de Luanda and Cape Town Tigers square off against Ferroviario da Beira.

SLAC v Petro de Luanda – 17:00 (Local Time); 11:00 am (ET)

One more win, and Petro de Luanda will most likely become the first Nile Conference team to officially qualify for the Playoffs next month in Kigali.

The Angolan champions head to Wednesday’s clash against Seydou Legacy Athletique Club (SLAC) as leaders of the conference with a perfect 3-0 record and the highest goal-differential in the conference.

If they do beat SLAC, Petro will qualify for the next round for the third season in a row.

SLAC, on the other hand, have relaunched their playoffs hope with a resounding 96-68 win over City Oilers on Tuesday, and will look to keep the momentum for their next two games.

And to try to return to the playoffs for the second straight season, S.L.A.C must beat Petro and improve to a 2-2 mark.

This will be the first Petro v SLAC matchup in the BAL history .

In theory, Petro emerge as favourites to come up on top, but the Guinean champions have shown a tremendous resilience over the past three games and can’t be overlooked.

“We must beat someone [to qualify],” SLAC coach Zeljko Zecevic said.

“I would be superficial, and wouldn’t be respectful – with my small team SLAC – to say that we can compete against two teams who will play the [2023] BAL Final in Kigali,” the Serbian said, inferring to SLAC’s next two opponents Petro and Al Ahly.

“No-one knows what the outcome will be on the last day of the [Nile] conference, but, more importantly we now have a positive point differential. This is really important.”

Zecevic used the Sahara Conference as an example to suggest that a 3-2 record might or might not be enough to qualify for the playoffs in the Nile Conference.

“This is a tough competition,” he said. “Senegal [Sahara Conference] taught everyone a lesson [no-one is safe until the last day of competition].

“[In the Sahara Conference] Three wins weren’t enough to qualify for the playoffs. Here [Nile Conference], one win might be enough, we’ll see,” he said.

Uchenna Iroegbu, Dane Miller, Emmeka Nwabuzor and Ismael Conde have put up solid performances so far for SLAC, and their effort will be much needed to stop a Petro team that has limited opponents to 65 points while scoring 92 points per game.

“We won’t be satisfied until we reach our ultimate goal or winning the title,” Petro de Luanda coach Neto has said.

Cape Town Tigers vs Ferroviario da Beira – 20:30 (Local Time); 2:30 pm (ET)

Cape Town Tigers and Ferroviario da Beira will face each other for the first time in the BAL, but the two Southern African clubs have a history.

When the Tigers and Beira faced off on the last day of the qualifying round – both teams were already qualified for the 2023 BAL season – Cape Town prevailed 81-71.

By the time Cape Town and Beira return to the floor on Wednesday, the latter will have had a two-day break.

The Tigers, meanwhile, will return to action 24 hours after a 91-75 loss to Al Ahly.

Tigers and Beira share a 1-2 record each, making it a must-win encounter for either side.
“It’s another very good team. We need to come prepared. They want to win as bad as we do. It’s going to be a good matchup,” Tigers leading scorer Evans Ganapamo admitted.

“We need to win those two games, I think it will turn well for us.”

A 1-2 record isn’t the ideal scenario for the Tigers, and Ganapamo says Cape Town need a new approach to the game:
“We definitely need to start better than we did. We just need to execute a little better defensively and offensively.”