The Basketball Africa League (BAL) (https://BAL.NBA.com/) Playoffs are officially underway at SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa, tipping off in thrilling fashion as Kriol Star (Cape Verde) edged FUS Rabat Basketball (Morocco) in a 91–88 nail-biter. Joel Ntambwe led Kriol Star with a team-high 22 points, while Ivan Almeida posted a triple-double with 18 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds. Jalan McCloud also added 21 points. For FUS Rabat, Yacine Baeri delivered a team-high 22 points, shooting an impressive 7-of-8 from three-point range.

The second game of the night featured a clash of titans between two undefeated teams, Al Ahli Tripoli (Libya) and Al Ittihad (Egypt), with Al Ittihad emerging victorious in an 85-74 win. Majok Deng led the charge with 19 points, while Lual Acuil posted a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds. For Al Ahli Tripoli, Fabian White Jr. delivered a game-high 24 points along with 10 rebounds. Jean Jacques Boissy and Naseim Badrush also contributed with 17 and 16 points, respectively.

Tonight’s seeding games set up the win-or-go-home quarterfinal matchups on Sunday – Al Ahli Tripoli will take on Kriol Star at 4 p.m. and Al Ittihad will face FUS Rabat at 7 p.m. CAT.

Tomorrow’s seeding games will feature the defending champion Petro de Luanda (Angola) taking on APR (Rwanda) at 4 p.m. and 2022 BAL champion US Monastir (Tunisia) facing last year’s semifinalist Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria) at 7 p.m. CAT.

The 2025 Basketball Africa League season is reaching fans in 214 countries and territories in 17 languages through free-to-air and paid TV broadcast partnerships, including on Canal+, ESPN, FIBA’s digital platform Courtside 1891 and livestreaming on the NBA App (https://apo-opa.co/45w59bJ), NBA.com (https://apo-opa.co/43RoK3C), BAL.NBA.com (https://apo-opa.co/3SHlN0f) and the BAL’s YouTube (https://apo-opa.co/43OCRX5) channel.

PRESS CONFERENCES

Opening Press Conference (https://apo-opa.co/3ZVDAEO)

NBA Africa CEO Clare Akamanzi, BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall and FIBA Africa President Anibal Manave

Postgame

Kriol Star vs FUS Rabat (coaches and players) (https://apo-opa.co/43RiHfp)

Al Ahli vs Al Ittihad (coaches and players) (https://apo-opa.co/3TaeTRk)