BAL: Opong calls for fight as City Oilers search for first win

Robinson Opong has struggled to get into the lineup for City Oilers in the ongoing Basketball Africa League Nile Conference in Cairo, Egypt but got some minutes in the 79-68 loss to Libya’s Al Ahly Benghazi on Monday.

The shooting guard came off the bench to contribute 11 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes and was a big part of the Oilers’ defence that limited the damage in the second half of the game.

In the end, City Oilers had dug themselves a hole too deep and were unable to come out of it despite good displays in the third and fourth quarter.

Al Ahly LY held on for their second win of the tournament to condemn the Ugandan champions to a 0-3 mark at the end of the first round.

“Obviously, we started slow. We gave them (Al Ahly LY) confidence early in the game, they have great scorers and a scorer when he has confidence early, it’s very hard to stop them and that’s what we did,” Opong told Daily Monitor after Monday’s defeat.

The Libyans had star guard Pierre Jackson injured early in the game but Lual Lual Acuili dominated the inside to punish Oilers every transition.

Vasilj Duric’s charges poured in 50 first half points and limited the Oilers to just 24.

Better second half

Head coach Karim Nesba handed guard Fayed Baale his first minutes of the tournament at the start of the second half and that sparked the team’s defensive effort on the night.  

Baale ended up playing 18 of the 20 second half minutes as Randy Culpepper Sr. and Dane Miller Jr. spent the entire half on the bench.

“We came back fighting, trying to make them uncomfortable in the second half. We did a good job but we had dug a big hole in the first half and it was very hard to come out of it,” Opong noted.

The Oilers were led by Khaman Maluach, who continued to show the good two-way player he is and was only limited by foul trouble.

The 17-year-old South Sudanese recorded his second double-double of the tournament with 16 points and 19 rebounds. He added seven blocks on the night.

Opong added: “We have to fight. We have a good example of how we can do it, if we keep playing like we did in the second half, less turnovers, keep being tight on defence, executing better on offence, we can win. We have enough talent to win games here so, I’m not worried about that.”

The Oilers will, Wednesday, start their second leg of the tournament when they go up against defending champions and hosts Al Ahly.

Basketball Africa League 

Nile Conference - Wednesday 

Bangui vs. Al Ahly LY, 6pm

City Oilers vs. Al Ahly, 9pm