Al A Benghazi 110 City Oilers 78  Al Ahly 94 Bangui 71 

A forgettable campaign ended on a wretched note for the City Oilers as they lost by their biggest margin, falling 110-78 to Al Ahly Benghazi Saturday in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) Nile Conference, in Cairo, Egypt. 

The defeat was given further prominence by the BAL record 42 points scored by Benghazi’s Lual Acuil.

The South Sudan centre scored the last two points of the game, with seconds to spare, after pleading with Oilers James Okello, who had frustrated his attempts in the last two minutes, to allow him break the record. 

“I did not know he was going for the record,” said Okello, stepping on court along with the rest of the Oilers’ bench players to see out the final minutes of the already decided match.

“But he told me he wanted it and begged me to let him get it. I wasn't going to stop him.” 

On a day, or rather in a tournament, in which few things have gone well for the Oilers, Okello’s contribution to Acuil’s record went down as one of the biggest contributions to the competition from the Ugandan champions. 

The Oilers were comfortably behind the other three teams in the Nile Conference, finishing with a 1-5 record. For the second season in a row, the Oilers finished bottom of the Nile Conference, managing a single win. 

“It was a very difficult game and we did everything that we could,” said Nesba.

“They were just too good for us. I think we did everything that we could all week long, today they were just too good for us.” 

Muhammed Bashir and Randy Culpepper scored 14 points apiece for the Oilers, while Khaman Maluach, Robinson Opong and Patrick Rembert added 11 points apiece for Karim Nesba’s side.