Costa do Sol and Alexandria Sporting to contest for Champions Cup crown

 

MAPUTO (Mozambique) - One of the two 2022 FIBA Africa Champions Cup finalists will be crowned African champions for the first time when Costa do Costa do Sol and Sporting Alexandria meet on Saturday in Maputo.

Costa do Sol left the Pavilhao de Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in a celebratory mood on Friday after beating defending champions and compatriots Ferroviario de Maputo while Sporting Alexandria upset five-time African champions Interclube in the second Semi-Final.

Tournament hosts Costa do Sol beat Ferroviario de Maputo 53-49 to reach the final of the tournament for the very first time in the history of the Maputo-based club. in a battle that was always going to be tight, given what was at stake.

Eleuteria Lhavanguane 

A decent crowd also came to watch the fascinating battle between Ferroviario and domestic league winners Costa.

In the end, the Canarinhas'  fans were the ones who left the venue cheering the loudest.

The small details determined the outcome of this derby semi-final match. For example, Costa had one turnover less (25-26) than Ferroviario and the team in yellow out-rebounded Ferroviario 42-33.

It was a game where other players stepped up, as Costa's star player, Ingvild Mucauro, had a little bit of an off night. Her teammate, Elueteria Lhavanguane's team-high 17 points contributed to Costa achieving their momentous milestone.

Costa do Sol coach Leonel Manhique, who knelt and crawled on the hard court in celebration at the end of the game, believes his team's defence gained their passage to the final.

"I am happy, and congratulations to my team. Game after game, they believed they could get here. Another factor was our defence. We were on top defensively, and that was the difference today.

On his celebration, Manhique added: "I celebrated because this is a big moment for the club. A lot of resources have been put in place for us to be in this position. We have to make sure that we also do our part."

SPORTING TOO GOOD FOR INTERCLUBE

After a stuttering start, early in the first quarter, the Egyptians settled into their style of play and outplayed Interclube in all aspects of the game.

Sporting's Hagar Amer's double-double (19 points and 10 rebounds) and Cierra Dillard's 21 points saw the Alexandria-based club make it to their maiden continental final.

Italee Lucas got off to a hot start scoring 16 points that saw Inter take a 22-14 lead, but the team play of Sporting saw them claw their way back and finish the quarter 28-22 up.

The Egyptians picked up where they left off in the second quarter and built a 19-point lead (48-29), with Dillard scoring 12 points, nine of them from three-point range. The Angolans would, however, have a good spell and cut Sporting's lead to eight (48-40). Sporting controlled the game with a 51-40.

The second half saw Sporting win the battle as they added 49 points to their total, while Inter managed 22 in a poor performance by the Angolans.

Hagar Amer

Coach Mohamed Abdelrahman expressed his joy at his team's success so far and is looking forward to facing Costa in Saturday's final.

"I cannot explain what I am feeling. I have thought about this game from the beginning, and when we arrived in Mozambique, I thought about how we will beat Inter. Now we have done it. We have beaten a team full of stars and stopped some of their key players from performing," said Abdelrahman.

"We try and figure out what (Costa do Sol) they will bring, and we will show what we have. I would also like to thank their fans for supporting us. We know tomorrow they will be against us, but hopefully, we will win tomorrow (Saturday)."

In the day's Classification Round Kenya Ports Authority beat APR 67-38, while ASC Ville de Dakar beat CNSS 74-43.

FIBA