Petro de Luanda’s deep squad helped them finish the group games undefeated as its bench triumphed AS Salé’s bench 50-10 in the last game of BAL Group B.
Matchday 7 played on Sunday, May 23, 2021, was concluded with the battle of the two undefeated teams in Group B, Athlético Petróleos de Luanda, and Association Sportive Salé. Both teams had a convincing run of victories against the FAP and AS Police.
In a very thrilling game, Petro came in this match aware of Stoglin’s shoots combined with great strength plus the ability to drive the ball and get it into the paint, which is almost unstoppable.
Terrell Stoglin became the first player to score 40 points in this BAL. Stoglin achieved the milestone last Friday, May 20, 2021, when he dominated AS Police in his team’s win.
AS Salé put together an early run, thanks to 13 points from Rashad Deane James in the first quarter. Rashad was outstanding in this quarter before Petro head coach, José Neto noticed that all efforts had been emerged to stop Terrell Stoglin but this American guard needed special attention too. AS Salé finished the first quarter with a 7 point lead. 23-16
In the next Quarters, Petro’s defense was immense through their centers Pedro, Richards, and Joaquim who kept on rotating. Petro’s rich squad was instrumental in the comeback as the experienced guards Carlos Morais and Olimpio Cipriano helped the team in carrying momentum to increase the score as they won all three other quarters, 32-23, 20-17, 29-15 to make it 97-78.
Four times FIBA AfroBasket winner, Olimpio Cipriano stepped up when his side Petro needed him the most to secure a well-fought come-back victory against AS Salé. Cipriano, who started on the bench, made three-pointers every time he came on the court and continued to put the opponent in danger.
The 39-year-old shooting guard hit five of eight three-pointers attempts and scored 17 points in general in the 17 minutes he played. He finished the game with no turnover and 60 as field goal percentage.
AS Salé duo Terrell Stoglin and Rashad James scored 25 points and 22 points respectively. However, their efforts were not enough to keep the unbeaten record for this north-western-based Morocco club.
Petro finished with a 3-0 record in Group B after edging AS Salé to the top spot with a thrilling 97-78 triumph on the Group B last day match. AS Salé had picked up two wins from their three games to go through in second place, while Cameroon’s FAP took the third spot in a 1-2 record. AS Police, considered as an underdog before the tournament, completes the group with a series of 3 losses.
Petro and AS Salé together with US Monastir and Patriots of group A plus Group C’s Ferroviario and Zamalek have all booked their tickets in the quarterfinals. Two more teams will be added as the best third teams to make it eight.
