LUSAKA (Zambia) - On the opening day of the 2026 Road to BAL East Division Group E tournament at Lusaka's Nasdec Arena, the hosts, Matero Magic, as well as South Africa's Johannesburg Giants and Mozambique's Ferroviario da Beira, secured victories.
Here, we look back at Tuesday's events in the Zambian capital.
Matero deny Dolphins
With 18 points from Elijah Mukalebai, Matero Magic enjoyed a successful opening night.
His teammates, Omar Thielmans and Corey Boyd, ensured that the Magic made a strong statement in front of their home crowd, with 17 and 13 points respectively, and 13 rebounds from Boyd.
They defeated Botswana's Dolphins 68–59.
The host club and regulars of the Road to BAL, the Matero Magic, finished the first half with a 20-point lead (48–28). Matero's top scorers were Elijah Mukalebai (14 points) and former MBB player Omar Thielmans (10 points).
George Ngaiza of Tanzania led the Dolphins with 18 points; meanwhile, Kendrick Delahoussaye and Kesaobaka Ndawanyana contributed 11 and 10 points respectively.
The Dolphins tried to stage a comeback in the second half, reducing Matero's lead to 11 points (62–51) with a solitary free throw from Ndawanyana at the 5:12 mark.
However, the Magic quickly pulled away to secure a nine-point victory, quashing any hopes of a comeback from the Dolphins.
'It was a good game. We almost messed it up, but we managed to pick things up. The win is what matters. All we want to do is qualify and get to the next round. That is our team's goal, and we are working towards it," said Mukalebai.
Ferroviario da Beira tame the Hounds
After an absence of a year from the Road to BAL, Mozambique's Ferroviario da Beira returned in rampant fashion.
The Locomotivas steamrollered Zimbabwe's Basket Hounds 94–60 in the day's opening game.
The favourites to win the group, Beira took control of the game from the second quarter, establishing a 10-point lead (34–24).
Import Joshua Thomas's 24 points were instrumental in Ferroviario's first win of the qualifiers. Ayad Munguambe and Ke Tarrious Bouchum both scored 12 points. Munguambe was dominant in grabbing 12 rebounds.
The Hounds, who had Zimbabwean legend Vitalis Chikoko in their line-up, were led in scoring by Tanaka Ndyara with 14 points.
Chikoko, a two-time French Cup winner and MVP, as well as the founder of the Hounds club, scored seven points.
Giants break the Bravehearts
In the final game of the day, South African club Johannesburg Giants got their debut Road to BAL campaign off to a fine start.
They blew away Malawi's Bravehearts 67–49.
FIBA