JOHANNESBURG (South Africa) - The Cape Town Tigers sealed their spot for the next round of the Basketball Africa League qualifiers following a hard-won victory of Group F opponents Matero Magic of Zambia at the University Johannesburg on Friday.

The Tigers were made to sweat in the last quarter as they held on to win 83-77 against a different looking Magic team.

Jared Harrington and Evans Ganapamo finished with 18 points apiece, Billy Preston added 17 and Ben Uzoh contributed 14 as the the host club improved their mark to 2-0.

"WE MADE THIS GAME A LOT HARDER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN."
- Jared Harrington

 For the first two quarters, the Tigers looked impressive, as they played with a sense of urgency and good energy. Shooting guard Ganapamo provided a spark from the bench with his outside scoring and ability to drive into the lane.

Team captain and forward Pieter Prinsloo and Billy Preston scored emphatic dunks as the South African team made a statement at that point in the game.

In the last two quarters, the Tigers were sluggish and allowed the physical Zambians to fight back.

Pieter Prinsloo

Matero shooting guard Jaylen Leroy led all scorers with 27 points, while Augustine Kainda and Elijah Mukelabai contributed 12 points each.

Tigers coach Relton Booysen felt his team made things difficult for themselves. He, however, hopes his team has learnt from the experience.

"Yeah, it was a different team yesterday (against Ferroviario da Beira). I have scouted this team for the last few weeks, so I knew it was not going to be easy," said Booysen, adding: "We had a twenty-point lead, but we threw it away because we let ourselves down with our discipline. We have to work on that as a unit, but a W is a W. We now have to focus on the last game tomorrow."

American shooting guard Harrington also echoed Booysen's words about making things almost tough for themselves against Matero.

"We made this game a lot harder than it should have been. A couple of guys missed a lot of easy buckets and easy shots, but we are going back to the drawing board. We will come back tomorrow in full force, and we will be ready to compete."

In the day's other game, Ferroviario da Beira captain, Ismael Nurmamade led his team to a 96-point victory (132-36) over Roche-Bois Warriors.

The shooting guard scored 26 points in a game the Mozambican team ran riot over Mauritius outfit. Nurmamade's teammates also came to the party.

Forward Helton Ubisse continued his good form, scoring 17 points, while Canadian forward Jermel Kennedy also had his second 16-point game. Ayad Munguambe (14) and sibling duo of Orlando Novela (11) and Ermelindo Novela (10), along with Elves Houana (10), completed the top scores list, as Beira romped to a 132-36 victory.

The win means the Beira-based club join Cape Town Tigers in the second round of the BAL qualifiers, and the game between the two sides on Saturday will be for bragging rights.

Beira coach Luis Hernandez was also able to use his fringe players in the polished performance of his team.

"I was not worried about whether we won easily. I was more concerned with the team doing its best. I feel we improved our performance today than in our opening game (against Matero Magic), said Hernandez. "Today, we were able to implement our style, our philosophy and we were aggressive. I think we played much better today. We did the things we do in practice."

FIBA