What the Last Four Teams in the Sahara Conference Are All About

The last day of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) Sahara Conference comes to a close on Tuesday at Dakar Arena in Senegal with four teams looking for their positioning in the standings.

Only two teams in the Sahara – Rwanda Energy Group (REG) and US Monastir – can finish first or second and are officially qualified for the playoffs in Kigali in May, but the standings positions for the remaining four teams will be decided after Tuesday’s two games.

REG v BEIRA  (Mar 15, 2022, 5:30 PM local time)

With a 3-1 record thanks to wins over AS Salé, SLAC and US Monastir, REG head to the clash against Ferroviario da Beira (1-3) looking to finish top of the Conference.

The Rwandan champions had a major morale booster after beating self-proclaimed BAL title contenders US Monastir on Monday in a game that they came back from a 12-point deficit to win 77-74.

Beira will step on the floor after a three-day break.

REG have been the biggest surprise of the tournament not only for upsetting Monastir, but also for building a competitive team in such a short period of time.

“As a coach you want as much time as you can to prepare. We had five practices before my first game,” REG Head Coach Robert Pack.

The last time these two teams faced each other in the 2019 FIBA Africa Basketball League, REG came up on top 86-77 in Cairo.

Ismael Nurmamade, Helton Ubisse, Armando Baptista, Elvis Houana and Ayad Munguambe – who are part of the current Beira squad, all featured for the Beira-based team, while Jean Jacques Nshobozwabyosenumukiza, Olivier Shyaka, Elie Kaje and Kami Kabange – all suited up for REG three years ago.

Ubisse had an outstanding performing in that game after finishing with game-highs 24 points and 9 rebounds.

Beira showed a tremendous grit in their first two games, against Monastir and DUC, but two straight defeats to AS Salé and SLAC undermined their progression in the tournament.

“It’s a difficult to be in with one game left in the Conference. These are very good teams,” said Beira Head Coach Luis Hernandez about his team’s situation in the build-up to the clash against REG.

DUC AS SALE (Mar 15, 2022, 9:00 PM local time)

In the last game of the Sahara Conference this season, hosts DUC (1-3) will try to finish on a positive not when they go up against AS Salé (2-2).

The Moroccan champions on Monday night emerged from the ashes to beat SLAC 91-81 and take control of their BAL destiny.

DUC, on the other hand, have experienced some inconsistency throughout the tournament, but beating the former African champions isn’t impossible, but it will require a tremendous efforts, especially trying to stop the Sahara Conference leading scorer Terrel Stoglin and sharpshooter Abdoulaye Harouna.

AS Salé Head Coach Liz Mills noted that Monday night’s win was very important win for AS Salé, “We still have one more game and one more win. I think we are qualified, but it depends where we finish and that’s why the win tomorrow is just as important.”

Meanwhile, DUC Head Coach noted that heading to the last game with a 1-3 mark wasn’t something that they expected.

it’s really important to win the last game.”

“We didn’t expect to be in this position with one game left. Prior to the tournament we thought that we could beat teams like SLAC, Beira and REG, but this is what this tournament is all about.”