SOA survive ASPAC scare to book BAL Elite 16 ticket
Societe Omnisports de l'Armee of Abidjan, Cote d' Ivoire are currently swimming in rivers of joy having achieved their first target after punching a ticket to the Elite 16 Round.
CONAKRY (Guinea) - Societe Omnisports de l'Armee (SOA) Cote d' Ivoire are currently swimming in rivers of joy having achieved their first target after punching a ticket to the Elite 16 of the Road to BAL 2022 with two wins in Group B of the Division West in Conakry, Guinea.
SOA as the team is commonly called defeated ASPAC of Benin 60-40 in a gritty encounter that saw the Benin Republic champions threatening to stall SOA's dreams.
However, SOA left nothing to chance as they opened an 8-0 lead in the first few minutes of the game with ASPAC struggling to make their first basket in over five minutes of the first quarter of the game.
The Ivorien side, meeting ASPAC since 2014 still led on the score sheet despite falling behind in the second quarter that saw ASPAC with a 15-11 points to level scores at 27-27 moved fast in the third quarter to secure a good advantage with a win of 17-7 and 16-6 points in the last quarter.
Though ASPAC's Tawadioun Baboni Mama drained 14 points in 28:06 minutes played to lead the floor in the game, it was the efforts of 6'1" guard of SOA Ulrich Mohamed Kra who scored 12 points same as his teammate Asshe Stéphane Auguste Kokoun that made the difference for the winning side.
Captain of SOA Stéphane Agole said he is elated to have led his team to two successive victories in Conakry.
"This is our first as Champions of Cote d' Ivoire to participate in the Road To BAL and we're glad that we're through to the next round. We had looked forward to playing three games but the team from Burkina Faso pulled out. We'll return to Abidjan to continue working for the next phase that will be tougher. Our dream is to reach the Final Round," he told FIBA.basketball.
Administrative Manager of SOA, Diarassouba Yaya also speaking on the team's success in Conakry said the trip is rewarding and but notes that they won't go to sleep because there is a bigger task ahead.
In the last game of Group B on Sunday, ASPAC will need to be at their best when they face AS Nigelec of Niger Republic. With both sides on deficit, it promises to be an exciting game. In two previous meeting back in 2014 and 2019, both sides have shared spoils.
Group A will see a replay between AS Police of Mali and SLAC of Guinea.
FIBA