Wednesday, April 24*Bangui Vs Al Ahly Benghazi – 6pm*City Oilers Vs Al Ahly – 9pm
City Oilers have vowed to persevere as they enter the second round of the Basketball Africa League Nile Conference campaign in Cairo, Egypt.
The Oilers are bottom of the pile with three defeats from as many games – They lost to Al Ahly (76-99), Bangui (88-101) and Al Ahly Benghazi (68-79).
And they will face off with the same opponents again, starting with defending champions Al Ahly of Egypt on Wednesday.
There were glimpses of improvement however in their last defeat against Al Ahly Benghazi, in a game they dominated in the second half.
“We started slow and we gave them confidence, good enough we fought in the second half and made them more uncomfortable but we had already dug a big hole for ourselves in the first half and it was very tough to come out of it,” said shooting guard Robinson Opong after the game.
“We are trying to get better game by game and we have been together for some time now we can’t dwell on the past and now we have to care bit by bits of everything we are doing welll and carry it over in the next game and we want to keep fighting.”
Ahead of the second round, Opong said: “We have to commit less turnovers, keep fighting on defence and execute well on offense, and I am sure that we have enough talent to win games.”
Al Ahly have won all their first round games, and will be overwhelming favourites against City Oilers.
In their first round meeting, Ehab Amin Saleh (16), Mark Steven Lyons (14), Mohamed Elmaraghy (13), Adams Ali (12), Amr Sherif (12), and Tony Rasean (11), all scored in double digits.
