Petro de Luanda on Monday became the first team to qualify for every BAL Semifinals since the league’s inception four seasons ago.
The Angolans champions were on the ropes when Nicholas Faust came up with two key plays that changed the narrative of the game.
The shot clock showed 38.4 seconds remaining when Petro de Luanda’s newest addition hit a three-pointer that tied the game at 64-64.
AS Douanes guard Jean Jacques Boissy gave his team a short-lived lead (65-64) after making only one of his two free-throws with 22 seconds before Faust completed Petro de Luanda’s incredible comeback.
There were 8 seconds remaining when Faust’s lay-up sealed Petro de Luanda’s 66-65 victory.
Although AS Douanes went to halftime trailing 28-25, they out-classed Petro de Luanda in the third quarter, leading by as many as 20 points (62-42).
However, Petro de Luanda weren’t prepared to see their season come to an end at AS Douanes expenses for the second season in a row. They responded with one of the biggest comebacks in BAL history to advance to the semis for the fourth season in a row.
AS Douanes, meanwhile, can only blame themselves for missing their back-to-back Semifinals appearance.
Because of Petro de Luanda’s aggressiveness, combined with some of AS Douanes sloppy plays, in the final quarter, the 2023 BAL runners-up saw their season come to an abrupt end in the Quarterfinals.
Mamadou Gueye’s charges turned the ball over a shocking nine times while missing three free-throws in the final ten minutes of the game.
A year ago, AS Douanes beat Petro de Luanda 92-86 in the Semifinal, but on Monday Petro refused to go down without a fight.
“It was either all or nothing,” Petro de Luanda forward Markeith Cummings who contributed 9 points in the winning cause.
“We were down 20; What did we have to lose? We were going out with a bang. So, we played more aggressively defensively and that’s how we won the game,” said the 2016 FIBA Africa Champions Cup winner with Al Ahly SC.
Cummings continued his reflection on the remarkable win, saying: “We came out with no energy in the third quarter. The whole time I was telling guys they had to believe until the end. I wasn’t ready to go home right now. We just showed what we are capable of as a team.”
With Petro de Luanda starters struggling to find answers to AS Douanes’ domination, it was its bench players that got the job done.
Petro de Luanda’s bench outscored AS Douanes’ 31-4.
And Faust, who played the rescuer role and finished as the only Petro de Luanda player to score in double figures, finished with a team-high 13 points.
Boissy led all players in scoring with 28 points; Abdoulaye Harouna contributed 15, but their effort wasn’t enough to keep AS Douanes in contention for the BAL top prize.
“Maybe we were playing not to lose instead of playing to win,” said Mike Fofana who spent the entire game on the floor, finishing with 11 points.
“We were a little stagnant. They made more plays than we did, that’s how we lost it,” the Ivorian forward admitted.
While Petro de Luanda will face Cape Town Tigers in the Semifinals on Wednesday, May 29, AS Douanes return home with an overall 4-4 mark for the season.
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