Angola’s Petro de Luanda too good for City Oilers

Basketball Africa League

Petro de Luanda 89 City Oilers 71

City Oilers started their Basketball Africa League (BAL) campaign with an 89-71 loss to Angola’s Petro de Luanda in the Nile Conference at the Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall in Cairo on Thursday night.

As league debutants, the Oilers managed to put up a fight, however the experience of Petro de Luanda who has not missed any season of BAL since its inception was evident.

Of course, signs were there that it was going to be a huge test for the Oilers who were playing at this stage for the first time.

The game started on a high octane bound with Petro de Luanda leading the first quarter with a 7-point gap but the Oilers executed the second quarter way better to end it 25-21.

The third quarter saw Petro de Luanda finish with a 4-point lead before the Oilers gave up the fight in the fourth quarter.

Juruni’s side struggled to pick up the offensive rebounds which their opponents mastered and use as a weapon to dash the Oilers' dream of securing a first win at their debut BAL season.

Jones Falando scored a game-high 22 points,5 rebounds, and 3 assists. James Justice added 20 points,8 rebounds, and 5 assists while Titus Odeke contributed 10 points in the Oilers’ losing cause.

Aboubacar Gakou scored a team-high 16 points, his teammate Carlos Morais added 11 points while Childe Dundao scored 11 points in their winning effort.

The Oilers became the first team from Uganda to feature at the BAL and they will need to finish in the top four places in the Nile Conference to qualify for playoffs that will be held in Rwanda next month.

They made it to BAL after beating Burundi’s Urunani 71-62 in the third-place playoffs in the Road to the BAL Elite 16 Division East Group F in Johannesburg last year.

The Oilers will face Egypt’s Al Ahly next.