It’s business as usual for Al Ahly! Appearing in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) for the third time since winning the title in 2023, the Egyptian champions secured the second playoff berth from the Sahara Conference by defeating JCA Kings 85–65 on Friday.
Al Ahly dominated from start to finish, improving to 3–1.
Guard Zack Lofton set a conference high with 32 points for Al Ahly, surpassing Jonathan Cisse’s 30 points in Club Africain’s 79-74 overtime loss.
JCA Kings, on the other hand, remained winless after four games.
It was a one-sided affair from the tip-off until the final buzzer. Al Ahly reached their largest lead of 21 points in the opening quarter, stretching their advantage to 23 points in the third.
Unlike in their first three games, in which they fought hard throughout, on Friday the Kings lacked the energy to cope with Al Ahly’s fast-paced game.
Jonathan Cissé led the JCA Kings in scoring for the fourth consecutive game, finishing with 21 points. His teammates Babatunde William and Chris Crawford added 13 and 10 points respectively, but their efforts did little to damage Al Ahly.
“It’s hard to lose four games in a row in a five-game conference, but the team is in good spirits and we’re taking it one game at a time. We’ll come back tomorrow and play our hardest. It’s going to be our last game, but we’ll play as a team,” said JCA Kings centre Mbacke Diong.
Except for Kevin Murphy and the injured Seif Said, all eleven Al Ahly players played for at least two minutes.
Ibrahim Zahran, who produced 14 points for the victors, insisted that Al Ahly are moving in the right direction.
He said: “We came into this game knowing that they are a hardworking team who took Club Africain to the limit, but we quickly figured out how to win. We played great defence and limited them to fewer than 20 points per quarter. We stuck to the game plan and got the win.”
Zahran, who is experiencing his first season in the Basketball Africa League (BAL), went a step further, saying that Al Ahly have what it takes to bring the BAL trophy to Egypt for the second time since 2023.
“I feel like we can go all the way and win this season, given the talented squad we have. This group is a combination of good import players and some of the best in the Middle East region.”
Al Ahly will close their 2026 Sahara conference taking on FUS Rabat on Sunday, the last day of the competition.
SOURCE: BAL
