BY TALABI SIMOEN ABIMBOLA
Six-time Nigeria Men’s Premier Basketball League champions, Rivers Hoopers, will begin their quest to reach the final of the Basketball Africa League Season 5 today.
The 2024 BAL bronze-medallists have a date to keep with Tunisian giants Union Sportive Monastirienne at the placement tie on Saturday, ahead of the quarterfinals in Pretoria, South Africa.
The reigning and defending champions of the NBBF Premier League under the leadership of Head Coach Ogoh Odaudu, who sealed consecutive Playoffs appearances by finishing second in the Kalahari Conference with a 4-2 mark, were ranked fourth overall in the rankings.
To reach the Playoffs, the KingsMen, as the Nigerian basketball giants are fondly called, brushed aside Stade Malien in their first game of the Season 79-59, in the Khalahari Conference.
The Ogoh Odaudu’s fell to Al Ittihad Alexandria of Egypt in the second game of the season, 94-77, but came back stronger, defeating Morocco’s FUS Rabat 71-79.
The KingsMen slipped once more to Egyptian powerhouse, Al Ittihad Alexandria 80-100.
The resilient Nigerian basketball buffs, Rivers Hoopers, went on to beat FUS Rabat 88-82 in their 5th game of the Season.
Rivers Hoopers played their hearts out in the final game of the Khalahari Conference, sending Stade Malien packing 60-81, to make it 4-2.
While nine-time Tunisian champions, US Monastir, who topped the Sahara Conference standings, were ranked third overall. Both teams finished with identical records of four wins and two losses in their respective conferences.
This will be the fifth meeting between Rivers Hoopers and US Monastir in BAL history, with the previous four meetings evenly split at two wins apiece.
En route to finishing third at BAL Season 4, Rivers Hoopers and US Monastir met three times; twice in the Sahara Conference, where both teams won one game each, before the KingsMen knocked out the 2022 champions in an electrifying quarter-final showdown.
Monastir had earlier beaten the Rivers Hoopers in their first-ever meeting during the Group phase of the inaugural BAL season.
The fifth instalment of what has grown to be one of the oldest and fiercest BAL rivalries, as Head Coach Ogoh Odaudu, with a PhD in game plan, will be facing the game with every weapon in his arsenal.
He has fortified his squad with the addition of versatile and trophy-hungry, small forward Ahmed Doumbia of Guinea, who most recently played for Chartres in France – Pro B, recording 229 points, 81 assists and 64 rebounds.
He also has in his arsenal, Chingka Garba of Orion BBC in the Rwanda Basketball League, who has under his belt 303 points with the Rwandan warriors.
Meanwhile, the top two teams from each of the three conferences (Sahara, Nile, and Kalahari) qualified for the playoffs, along with the top two third-place teams across the three conferences.
In the Basketball Africa League (BAL), seeding games are played before the playoffs to determine the playoff bracket matchups and seeding for the single-elimination playoffs.
The placement ties will feature the following matchups:
1st – 2nd seed: Al Ahli vs Al Ittihad
3rd – 4th seed: US Monastir vs Rivers Hoopers
5th – 6th seed: Petro de Luanda vs APR
7th – 8th seed: Kriol Star vs FUS Rabat
The outcome of these matches will determine the final seeding for the quarter-finals.
The BAL Season 5 Playoffs will run from 6th-14th June, 2025, starting with the seeding games on Friday, 6th June. All games will be played at the SunBet Arena, Pretoria, South Africa.
Meanwhile, Al-Ittihad shut down Tripoli 85-74. Remain the only undefeated team and Kriol Star secure a hard-fought 91-88 point win in the opener of the 2025 BAL Playoffs.
These are the opening results of the playoffs decided on Friday:
Match Day 1 Results
Al Ahli Tripoli 74
Al-Ittihad 85
Kriol Star 91
Fath Union Sports 88