2022 BAL finals

The 2022 BAL Finals was the championship game of the 2022 BAL season, the second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The final was played in the BK Arena in Kigali on 28 May 2022, between Angolan club Petro de Luanda and Tunisian club US Monastir.

2022 BAL Finals

Official promotion image for the finals
Event	2022 BAL season
Petro de Luanda US Monastir (6–1) (6–1) 72 83 Head coach: José Neto Head coach: Miodrag Perišić
1 2 3 4 Total Petro de Luanda 17 23 19 13 72 US Monastir 18 15 24 26 83
Date	28 May 2022
Venue	BK Arena, Kigali, Rwanda
MVP	Michael Dixon, US Monastir
Favorite	US Monastir (1.38 decimal odds)[1]
Referees	Hortensia Sanchez-Carrizales Wael Ibrahim Mostafa Marie Leslie Cherubin
Attendance	10,000
← 2021 2023 →

US Monastir won the game after pulling away in the fourth quarter, winning its first BAL and its first African continental title. The game was attended by a sold-out crowd of 10,000.^[2]

Teams

In the following table, finals in the FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup are in small text.

Team	Previous final appearances (bold indicates winners)
US Monastir	1 (2021)
Petro de Luanda	None 8 (1994, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015)

Venue

On 9 December 2021, The BK Arena, then named the "Kigali Arena", was announced as the venue of the 2022 BAL Playoffs.^[3] This was the second consecutive final that was held at the arena.

Kigali	Kigali 2022 BAL finals (Africa)
BK Arena
Capacity: 10,000

Background

Petro de Luanda

See also: 2021–22 Petro de Luanda (basketball) season

Petro de Luanda qualified as the champions of the 2020–21 season and brought back Brazilian coach José Neto for a second season. The core of its roster remained intact, with Anderson Correia and Yanick Moreira being signed as reinforcements on 15 March 2022.^[4][5]

Petro had its most successful season in history, as the team won the 2021–22 Angolan Basketball League with an unbeaten record of 33–0. On 11 May 2022, it captured its 15th national title after sweeping Interclube in the national finals.^[6] As the team also won the Angolan Cup and the Angolan Supercup, it captured its first national treble.

In the 2022 BAL Nile Conference, Petro ended in second place after losing only to Zamalek. On 8 May, American guard E. C. Matthews was added to the roster ahead of the playoffs.^[7] After defeating AS Salé in a re-match of last season's quarterfinal, Petro defeated FAP to reach its first-ever BAL final and its ninth African continental final.

US Monastir

See also: 2021–22 US Monastir basketball season

US Monastir qualified for its second straight BAL season after winning the 2020–21 Championnat National A title. In the offseason, the club lost its All-BAL star players Omar Abada and Makrem Ben Romdhane in the offseason as they signed in Saudi Arabia and Portugal respectively. The roster was strengthened with Solo Diabate and Michael Dixon, however, while Ater Majok re-signed.

In its domestic competitions, Monastir had another dominant season as it captured its fourth consecutive national title on 11 May 2022, having defeated Ezzahra Sports in the finals. Three days later, on 14 May, Monastir also won the Tunisian Cup to complete the double.^[8]

In the 2022 BAL Sahara Conference, Monastir finished second after a surprising loss against Rwandan club REG. Ahead of the playoffs, the team was strengthened with American guard Julius Coles Jr.^[9] In the quarterfinals, the team blew out Cape Town Tigers by a season-high 39 points difference. In the semifinals, the team defeated Zamalek to take revenge for the previous season's final loss.

Road to the finals

Petro de Luanda		Round	US Monastir
Opponent	Result	Group phase	Opponent	Result
Cape Town Tigers	90–61	Round 1	Ferroviário da Beira	77–71
Cobra Sport	92–56	Round 2	SLAC	76–55
Zamalek	72–85	Round 3	AS Salé	96–90
FAP	73–60	Round 4	DUC	74–62
Espoir Fukash	94–64	Round 5	REG	74–77
Nile Conference second place Pos Team v t e Pld PCT 1 Zamalek (H) 5 1.000 2 Petro de Luanda 5 .800 3 Cape Town Tigers 5 .400 4 FAP 5 .400 5 Cobra Sport 5 .200 6 Espoir Fukash 5 .200 Source: BAL, Afrobasket (H) Hosts		Regular season	Sahara Conference second place Pos Team v t e Pld PCT 1 REG 5 .800 2 US Monastir 5 .800 3 AS Salé 5 .600 4 SLAC 5 .400 5 Ferroviário da Beira 5 .200 6 DUC (H) 5 .200 Source: BAL, Afrobasket (H) Hosts
Opponent	Result	Playoffs	Opponent	Result
AS Salé	102–89	Quarterfinals	Cape Town Tigers	106–67
FAP	88–74	Semifinals	Zamalek	88–81

Game

US Monastir won the first quarter 17–18. In the second quarter, Petro de Luanda made a 8–0 run that included three-point field goals by Gerson Gonçalves and Carlos Morais, to end the first half with a 40–33 lead. Monastir shot 0-8 from behind the three-point line in the first half, and the Tunisian bench was outscored 17–2 by the Angolans.^[10] Following free-throw misses and turnovers by Petro in the third quarter, Monastir only trailed 57–59. Michael Dixon scored a three-pointer to put Monastir up 60–59, their first lead in the second half. Petro big men Jone Pedro and Yanick Moreira were both fouled out with 8 minutes and 1 minutes to go, respectively. With three minutes to play, Carlos Morais made an unsportsmanlike foul on which Monastir capitalise to take a 72–67 lead. The game was sealed with 30 seconds to go after Radhouane Slimane picked up an offensive rebound after a Julius Coles Jr. miss and scored the basket to put Monastir up 78–72. Following a Petro de Luanda time-out, Monastir forward Firas Lahyani stole the ball which gave Petro no chance to come back. Michael Dixon shot 7-of-10 from the field and had 21 points and 6 assists in the game, and following his superb performance, he was named the BAL Most Valuable Player, following Walter Hodge as the second-ever winner of the award. Monastir center Ater Majok, who scored 14 points in the game, was named the BAL Defensive Player of the Year. Gerson Gonçalves scored 28 points for the losing Angolan side, followed by Yanick Moreira's 18 points off the bench.^[10]

28 May 2022	Petro de Luanda	72–83	US Monastir	Kigali
18:00 CAT	Scoring by quarter: 17–18, 23–15, 19–24, 13–26
	Pts: Gonçalves 28 Rebs: Moreira 7 Asts: Gonçalves 4 PIR: Gonçalves 27	Boxscore v t e	Pts: Dixon, Lahyani 21 Rebs: Lahyani 10 Asts: Dixon 6 PIR: Lahyani 24	Arena: BK Arena Attendance: 10,000 Referees: Hortensia Sanchez-Carrizales, Wael Ibrahim Mostafa, Marie Leslie Cherubin

Petro de Luanda v US Monastir

Starters: Pts Reb Ast PG 5 Childe Dundão 1 3 2 SG 10 Gerson Gonçalves 28 5 4 SF 6 Carlos Morais 12 4 2 PF 15 Aboubakar Gakou 3 4 3 C 21 Jone Pedro 2 3 0 Reserves: G 00 E. C. Matthews 0 1 0 G 1 Gerson Domingos 3 2 0 C 2 Yanick Moreira 18 7 0 F 4 Olimpio Cipriano 3 3 1 G 11 Thierry Serge Darlan DNP G 12 Anderson Correia DNP F 24 Ángelo Gouveia Alexandre DNP Head coach: José Neto

Petro Monastir 0 Petro Statistics Monastir 13/24 (54%) 2-pt field goals 21/35 (60%) 10/28 (35%) 3-pt field goals 5/24 (20%) 16/28 (57%) Free throws 26/34 (76%) 8 Offensive rebounds 8 30 Defensive rebounds 7 38 Total rebounds 26 12 Assists 20 28 Turnovers 18 4 Steals 11 3 Blocks 5 26 Fouls 24 2022 BAL champions US Monastir 1st BAL title; 1st continental title

Starters: Pts Reb Ast PG 00 Michael Dixon 21 0 6 SG 5 Julius Coles Jr. 6 1 4 SF 45 Radhouane Slimane 4 8 1 PF 23 Firas Lahyani 21 10 2 C 13 Ater Majok 14 4 1 Reserves: F 1 Oussama Marnaoui 9 1 1 G 2 Neji Jaziri DNP G 10 Solo Diabate 4 3 3 G 11 Houssem Mahemli 0 0 1 G/F 12 Charles Loic Onana Awana DNP F 15 Wassef Methnani DNP C 21 Mokhtar Ghyaza 4 2 1 F 24 Mohamed Abbassi DNP Head coach: Miodrag Perišić

Aftermath

To honour their championship, US Monastir was received at the Carthage Palace by Tunisian President Kais Saied.^[11] The team was also congratulated on Twitter by Barack Obama, former President of the United States and an investor in the BAL.^[12]