PRAIA (Cape Verde) - Al Ahly Benghazi showed no signs of slowing down in the West Division Elite 16, outscoring Ghana's Spintex Knights 88–63 on Thursday in Praia, Cape Verde.
This was Benghazi's second consecutive win in the Elite 16 and their fifth victory in the current Road to BAL qualifiers.
Hamad Sofian, also known as 'Gomange', led the 2024 Basketball Africa League (BAL) runners-up with an impressive performance.
He finished with a game-high 21 points. He was the only player to score in double figures in the first half, finishing with 17 points.
In his opening moves, Hamad scored two out of two from long range before executing a perfect pick-and-roll with Alpha Kaba, who finished with a two-handed dunk.
The 8-0 lead sent a clear message about Benghazi's intention to win the game quickly.
Kaba and Sofian scored the Libyans' first 10 points.
Despite Spintex Knights' efforts to stay in the game, the duo of Alpha Kaba and Tomislav Zubcic dominated, ruling the battle in the paint and rarely allowing the Knights to contest.
It wasn't just inside the paint that the Libyans dominated; they also hit some critical shots from behind the arc, shooting 5-for-10 from deep in the first half. They eventually finished 9–19 from deep.
Benghazi reached their largest lead in the first half (41–27).
From the second quarter onwards, the game became one-sided as Al Ahly Benghazi led by as many as 34 points at some point in the game.
Marcos Knight, the other Al Ahly Benghazi player to score in double figures, finished with 16 points. Alpha Kaba finished with eight points and nine rebounds.
Al Ahly Benghazi finished top of Group B with the win, and will take on the second-placed team from Group A in the semi-finals on Saturday.
'They were better than us,' said Spintex Knights guard Treasure Botchway, who finished with a team-high 13 points.
"As they had already qualified for the semi-finals, I don't think they put in much effort. We didn't prepare much for the Road to BAL, so it's great to see our team making progress," said Al Ahly Benghazi head coach Ahmed Soliman.
Despite the loss, the Spintex Knights have secured a spot in the semi-finals as the runners-up in Group B.
They will face Jeuness Club d'Abidjan (JCA) on Saturday in a match that will determine one of the two West Division Elite 16 teams to advance to the 2026 BAL season.
'They are a very familiar team to us,' said coach Selom Thomas, whose Spintex Knights lost 73–66 to JCA in the group phase last month in Abidjan.
FIBA