NAIROBI (Kenya) - Despite having only nine players on their rotation, six on the floor on D-day, Cape Verde's Kriol Star have made history, stunning favourites Urunani 90-82 for to qualify for the Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2025 season.
The side was making their debut in the Road to BAL and made the East Division Elite 16 on a wild card, having lost their two matches in the Group Phase held in Libya in October.
Landry Ndikumana got action underway for the Burundians with two quick baskets to lead 4-0 before Joel Almeida came up for a trey to open the floor for Kriol Star.
Urunani led 12-7 halfway the opening quarter, but Dieudonne Ndayisaba Ndizeye and Patrick McGlynn drew the Islanders level at 12 with two minutes to play.
Three costly turnovers for Kriol, however, saw Urunani lead 18-12 at the end of the opening period. Urunani's biggest lead, so far, came in the opening two minutes of the clash, Mohamed Doumbya's hot hands and Ndikumana's trey making it 23-13.
Hugo Da Silva's men brought it back to six at 26-19 and again at 29-24 but the opponent, yet again, pulled away to take the difference to double digits at 35-24 as the half ended 37-28.
TURNING POINT: Six trebles in the opening four minutes of the third for Kriol, four off McGlynn and one a piece for Ndizeye and Almeida saw the Islanders assume least 39-38, stretching it further to 50-42 halfway through the stanza. Urunani went on a run of their own, with Jean-Jacques Boissy scoring seven to see the East Africans tie the match at 55.
Urunani led 68-63 but Kriol came right back to tie the match and lead 78-70, before Boissy shot from range to bring his side to within four, but their comeback was never to be as they went on to lose .
HERO: Patrick McGlynn led the charge for the Islanders, scoring 35, the second best in this year's Road to BAL. He dropped 7-of- 12 from range to rescue Kriol in the second half as the Islanders went 32-20 in the third. STATS DON'T LIE: A Road to BAL record of 15 treys for Kriol takes the cake in this encounter's statistics. Granted Urunani shot 9-of-29, it was not enough to stop McGlynn and his troops. BOTTOM LINE: Hugo Da Silva Salgado's men make history as the first team from the Island nation to reach BAL, going on an incredible journey that included a wild card and a first game loss in the group stage. On their part, Urunani, despite staying perfect from the Group Phase lost the most crucial match of the campaign to, yet again, miss out on BAL.
THEY SAID: "Everyone was talking about our win in the Semis even before we played. I called on my players to stay humble but that was not the case and we lost," Mamadou Pabi Gueye, Urunani head coach. "We had a good start, built a lead but they came back and shot well in the second half. We managed to make some stops but our defense struggled to adjust in the second half. We stayed in zone defense for so long and by the time we were adjusting they had momentum and the lead," Nkosinathi Sandile Sibanyoni, Urunani forward. "This is history for us as Kriol Star and for our country as well. It has been a journey preparing this team but we had a target coming here and we are happy to achieve it," Kriol Star head coach Hugo Salgado.
FIBA