BAL: Monastir Keeps Invincibility, DUC Stun REG

US Monastir has kept their Invincibility in the Sahara Conference with a routine victory over AS Sale, as the Tunisian side dispatched their neighbors (96-90) on Friday, March 11.

It took the genius and technical know-how of power forward, Radhouane Slimane for Monastir to outwit Sale right from the very onset, as they had the game’s first bucket. The 41–year-old had a look, thought of a pass, but shot for three having noticed he was free.

US Monastir didn’t look back from there on as they continued to widen the points range with Ater Majok in particular, attacking the rim.

At the start of the second quarter, Monastir extended their points tally to 34-21, giving AS Sale a 7 points gap.

As competitive as it looked on the eye, it was 52-39 at the break, with US Monastir rendering AS Sale incapacitated in most of their forward movements.

Having picked up the MVP award in game 7 against Clube Ferroviaro, Terrel Stoglin had hot hands coming off the break, shooting threes and occasionally closing the gap for Sale, but Monastir’s 71 lead was just enormous, towards the end of the third quarter.

The ball game eventually ended 96-90 for Monastir, and it was none other than captain Slimanane who picked up the MVP accolade having scored 24 points, 8 rebounds, and two assists.

For the second game of the day, REG took on DUC, in what many tipped to be a relatively easier assignment for REG, on a wonderful winning streak.

The Dakar University Club, against the odds, instead won their first game in the conference before their home fans.

Parfait Adjivon and his boys started slowly as Kambuy Manga and Filer Adonis dominated the opposition’s paint in the earlier stages.

DUC however dug deep to find that extra motivation, battling through and holding REG to a tie at the break (40-40).

There were split moments of that extra detail missed by REG in the third quarter. Given that the game was close call, moments of lack of concentration were always going to be punished; Ali Hadeem’s lose three pointer when the game was at 64-63 in favour of DUC, can be cited as an example and eventual waterloo of REG.

DUC went on to win their game 92-86, a scoreline that pretty much dropped some jaws. Adama Diakhite won the match MVP after a truely sensational display where he recorded 30 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks.