AS Nigelec and ABC punch their tickets for the second Round of the BAL Qualifiers

COTONOU (Benin) - Emotions ran high for AS Nigelec of Niger as they became the first ever club of the country to qualify for the second round of the Basketball Africa League Qualifiers after an emphatic 95-77 win against NPA Pythons of Liberia. Abidjan Basketball Club trounced hosts ASPAC 83-55 to seal the second ticket available for the Group B teams.

Sweet tears of joy and celebration at the end of their game was on for close to 10 minutes as they enjoyed the frenzy of qualification.

Nigelec dominated the first half as they took a 45-39 lead at the half-time break.

Pythons came out with a resolve not to go down without a fight as they picked the third quarter 18-17.

AS Nigelec parading four former Kano Pillars players- Eli Dung, Timothy Kwaor, Dele Ademola and Onyeka Okeke proved too strong for the Liberians as they closed out the game with a 33-20 advantage in the fourth quarter to close up the game.

It was another beautiful day in the office for Kwaor who posted a 60% accuracy from the three points line to record 33 points, 2 assists and 4 rebounds.

Usual suspects, Ademola posted a double-double figure with 18points and 11 rebounds while Dung had 14 points and 5 assists.

Nigelec’s coach, Amadou Karimou told FIBA.basketball "We have always had great players in Niger, it is just that the system had not always been there coupled with lack of resources."

He thanked their sponsors and partners who made the journey to Cotonou a possibility as they came ready to fight for one of the two tickets on offer.

In an emotional ladden voice, team captain, Abdoul Aziz Oumarou admitted that getting to this stage was not an easy task. He thanked the coaches and players for pushing themselves to the limit.

On what is next for the team having grabbed a ticket, Oumarou revealed that "Our objective is to get better, keep improving every single day by working hard as we want to take it to the next step as a way of saying thank you to our sponsors and everybody who made it possible for us to come."

FIBA