Pillars Fall in Semis
Nigeria’s champions Kano Pillars were on Thursday beaten by Egyptian side, Al Ahly Sports Club, in the semi-finals of the FIBA Africa Champions Cup. The 2016 playoffs are holding in Egypt.
Pillars who are also FIBA Africa Zone Three champions lost by 71-65 and will for bronze on Friday – the day competition will also end.
The Nigeria representatives are however scoring well in the individual performance ladder as their legendary guard Usamn Abubakar has been nominated for the FIBA Star Team.
In their quarterfinals outing on Wednesday, Pillars defeated Groupement Sportif des Petroliers of Algeria 91-81 on while Ahly cut Beac Basketball 63-60 at that stage.
Thursday’s loss is the second to the Egyptians since the competition began in Cairo. Pillars had lost their opening game too even though their last performance became a slight improvement over the first.
Ahly took the first quarter 15-13 but Pillars rallied back to win the second quarter 21-19 but a third quarter victory of 20-17 extended the lead for Ahly before they got a three-point win of 17-14 in the last quarter to cement the victory.