MBB miss out on Pretoria playoffs after BAL conference elimination
Johannesburg's Made by Ball's (MBB) dream of reaching the Basketball Africa League playoffs in their debut season was torpedoed when they were beaten 102-73 by Al Alhy Tripoli in their last Nile Conference game at the BK Arena in Kigali on Sunday.
This means SA will not have a representative when the playoffs take place at the Sunbet Arena in Pretoria in two weeks.
MBB had to beat conference leaders Al Ahly if they were to qualify to play on home soil as per the standings.
They needed to finish second or at least third for the last wild card spot.
That spot falls to FUS Rabat of Morocco, who, like MBB, won two games but have a better points difference of -19 compared with the Johannesburg side's -64.
US import Teafale Lenard Jr put in another impressive shift on top of his 39 points which he had scored the previous day.
The ex-NBA G League player put up 18 points, 11 rebounds and two assists, but his efforts were not enough to carry the team over the line.
Jovan Mooring with 10 points and Pieter Prinsloo (11) were the only other players to score double figures.
The bench contributed 27 points. By contrast, the men from Libya had 49 points.
The 2.13m tall David Craig, who missed the Nairobi City Thunder game on Saturday with a stomach bug, returned to the starting five and was the only change head coach Sam Vincent made.
Tripoli quickly opened up a four-point gap from the tip-off, but Lenard levelled matters.
With that kind of clinical display from the perimeter, there is no question why Jaylen Adams walks away with the @visitrwanda_now MVP accolade 👏. #BAL5 pic.twitter.com/UHYCI3clQ7
— Basketball Africa League (@theBAL) May 25, 2025
From then, MBB found their mojo and put up a seven-point extension into the score line and were 14-7 with four minutes remaining, but the Libyan outfit made a comeback and tied the game 16-16 with two minutes left.
Though MBB were resilient, Al Ahly ended up winning the quarter 23-16.
MBB kept on chipping important buckets in the second quarter, but whenever they moved closer to Tripoli's score, Italian head coach Abou Chacra's men would step on the accelerator.
The closest difference MBB moved to was a three-point deficit at 30-27 with four minutes before halftime.
Al Ahly, who had already secured a place in the playoffs, went to the dressing room team talk ahead at 42-34.
The Libyans ensured that the writing was on the wall for the South Africans and diminished any thoughts of a miracle comeback.
They walked away with the game in the third quarter.
Jean Jacques Boissy, who was arguably the best player in the conference, slotted a three-point step back jump shot five minutes into the quarter, and Al Ahly took a lead of 22 points.
Tripoli had a 69-48 advantage heading into the last 10 minutes of the game.
Despite Lenard, Prinsloo and Mooring putting shots at the end, it was not enough to stop the Libyans as they walked away with a 29-point win.
US player Jaylen Adams, who played 32:43 for Tripoli, finished with a top score of 28 points.
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