ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - There's now a clearer picture of the race for the two tickets on offer for the BAL Season 5 after four teams advanced to the semis and four others saw their BAL season come to an end.
Here's a look at what happened at Palais des Sports Treichville in Abidjan on Thursday, November 7.
Mighty Barrolle does it again
Almost a month after beating Spintex Knights (73-69) in Tripoli, Libya, Liberian champions Mighty Barrolle closed their Elite 16 campaign out with another triumph over the Ghanaian champions.
Although they trailed for most of the first half, Assad Fadel's men turned things around in the third quarter to upset the Knights 79-68, which turned out their first win in three games in the decisive phase of the qualifier.
With their starting lineup faltering, the Knights needed their reserve players to step up and they rose to the occasion, outscoring their counterpart 45-11, but it wasn't meant to be for the Ghanaians who returned home with a 0-3 mark.
Gambian Omar Samba and South Sudanese Yuat Alok combined for 46 Baroolle points, prompting Coach Fadel to envision a bright future for his team. "We wish we could play one more game. They (Spintex Knights) played hard but we were the better team today. Now that we know the formula of success in a FIBA competition we are going to the drawing board and set up a program in Liberia."
James Amotoe, who was superb throughout the first part of the qualifier, acknowledged that his Spintex Knight team faltered when they shouldn't. "We tangled for the outcome. As players of Spintex Knights we need to get our heads back in the game. We lost focus on the way. When we come back next year, it will be a different ball game."
Both Mighty Barrolle and Spintex Knights were eliminated after finishing 1-2 and 0-3, respectively in Group B.
Relentless Stade Malien show no mercy
The Malian champions reminded everyone what their primary goal is and were relentless, beating Gabon's Moanda Basket 79-53 to advance to the semis with a 3-0 edge.
Moanda's Herman Igouwe scored the first three points of the game, but when Mahamadou Kante gave Stade Malien their first lead (5-3) five minutes into the game, the Gabonese never led again.
Moanda, who had a promising start to the Elite 16 after a surprising win over DR Congo's Chaux Sport, saw their BAL dream come to an end.
Stade Malien won Group A with a 3-0 winning ratio.
Tripoli prevail again
In Thursday's highly-anticipated game between Al Ahli Tripoli Sport Club and Kadji Sport Academy (KSA), the former needed an extra five minutes to maintain their unbeaten run.
The Libyan champions outlasted KSA 96-91 to remain as the only undefeated team in the competition with a 5-0 mark ahead of the semis.
Kevin Murphy buried 4 of his 7 three-pointers, leading the Libyan champions with a game-high of 22 points, Deng Yak added 21 to his account while finishing with 10 rebounds and Mohamed Sadi, usually, a lethal scorer played a distributor role, finishing with 4 points, 14 rebounds a team-high 6 assists.
Al Ahli Tripoli advanced to the semis as Group B winners with a 3-0 while KSA moved on to the Last Four after finishing second in the group with a 2-1 mark.
Chaux redeem themselves
After an impressive Group Phase campaign where they claimed a 4-0 mark, things went downhill for Chaux Sport in the Elite 16.
The Congolese champions beat hosts ABC Fighters 88-85 in Thursday's last game to join a group of three games - including Moanda Basket and ABC Fighters - with a 1-2 record.
However, the Fighters clinched the last spot for the semis due to a better point-differential.
FIBA