Team effort key in US Monastir's victory over Kriol Star

Immediately after US Monastir beat Kriol Star 88-72 on Tuesday to improve to 2-1 in the 2025 Sahara Conference, Deng Acuoth and Firas Lahyani attributed their victory to a collective effort.

Kriol Star benefited from the Tunisian champions’ selfishness and disorganised plays in the opening quarter to take a 18-17.

Ivan Almeida scored the Cape Verdean outfit’s first nine points from behind the arc and gave them a 9-2 lead.

Apparently shocked by Kriol Star’s three-point prowess US Monastir felt it was about time to take control of the game.

And, in response to their worst moment of the game, US Monastir, who had just one assist in the first ten minutes, readjusted offensive and defensively, and an 11-2 scoring run came naturally to see the 2022 BAL champions take a 45-30 lead at the break.

And Kriol Star never led again.

Patrick Hardy Jr. led the way, finishing with a team-high 19 points, Lahyani added 15 while Deng and Babacar Sane contributed 13 points each in the winning cause.

Reflecting on US Monastir’s second straight win of the season, Deng said: “It was a very tough game. Every team in the group has one win; they are a good side, but we played great as a team.”

The South Sudanese international player admitted that there is still some work to be done, and they must maintain their momentum if they are to secure one of the two automatics berths for the postseason in Pretoria, South Africa in June.

“This is a tough conference; every team is competitive; It’s going down to those point difference at the end.”

When asked about the differences between US Monastir and Kriol Star in Tuesday’s game, Acuoth said that US Monastir "moved the ball around a lot. I think we knew who they were going to, but they didn't know who the ball was going to. Everyone on our team can score."

US Monastir's improvement from the first to the second quarter happened because of a team talk, Acuoth explained. "The coach told us that we need to move the ball more often, and that if we do that, we'll make the right shots."

Lahyani repeated what Acuoth said. "We were more focused; we worked hard, scouting Kriol Star.

"Winning this game makes it more comfortable for us to win the next one. But that doesn't mean we're going to stop trying to win. We hope to win every single game."

Lahyani was on the US Monastir team that ended the 2023 Sahara Conference with a 3-2 record. However, they did not make it to the postseason because they had a lower point differential than other teams with the same record.

"I keep telling my teammates and staff that we need to win as many games as we can," he said.