PRAIA (Cape Verde) - On Sunday in Praia, Cape Verde, Al Ahly Benghazi demolished Jeuness Club d'Abidjan (JCA) 105-92 in the 2026 West Division Elite 16 final.
The day before, Benghazi had secured one of the two West Division tickets on offer for the 2026 Basketball Africa League (BAL) season.
They took an early lead against JCA and never looked back.
It was a clash between two teams aiming to finish their 2026 qualifying campaigns undefeated.
However, JCA's attempts to extend their winning streak to 8-0 were abruptly interrupted by a determined Benghazi team, who finished their campaign with a 7-0 record.
This victory makes Benghazi the second Libyan team to win a conference, after Al Ahly Tripoli — who went on to win the 2025 Basketball Africa League (BAL) — won the West Division title in Abidjan last year.
Benghazi's physicality, rebounding dominance, and shooting accuracy overwhelmed JCA for most of the opening quarter and they didn't stop there.
The Libyans ended the first quarter with a 34–22 lead and went to the locker room with a 14-point advantage (60–46).
Tomislav Zubcic terrorised JCA's defence in the first half, shooting 9-for-18 to finish a team-high 24 points.
He was joined in the double figures category by teammate Marcos Knight (21), Sofian Hamad (18) and Jonathan Jordan (17).
JCA guard Jonathan Cisse led all players with 27 points, Andrew Edogi added 14, Babatunde William contribute 12 and Mike Yayo finished with 13 points.
Al Ahly Benghazi were so dominant in the first half that they led by as many as 21 points (45–24) at times.
There were stark differences between the two teams, with Al Ahly Benghazi's bench outscoring JCA's 41-21. Al Ahly Benghazi and JCA secured the two automatic places for the 2026 BAL season.
FIBA