DAKAR, Senegal -- Petro de Luanda got their Basketball Africa League (BAL) campaign back on track thanks in large part to Egyptian-American Patrick Gardner, with a 78-68 win over Tunisia's US Monastir on Thursday.
It was defending champions Petro's first ever win over Monastir at the fourth time of asking. The pair met in the 2022 BAL final and again in the 2024 seeding round. Monastir won both of those postseason fixtures and beat Petro 87-73 on Sunday.
New york-born Gardner, who was traded to G League side Osceola Magic in December, has been arguably the most consistent player for Petro in recent games. He was at his best in the first quarter, scoring 10 of Petro's 16 points. However, Monastir spread the scoring and kept pace as the teams went into the break all-square.
The second quarter belonged to Monastir and Mehdi Sayeh closed it out with a three-point jumpshot to put the Tunisian side 37-30 up.
Rigoberto Mendoza was in hot scoring form early in the third quarter as he led Petro into the driving seat, but Monastir stayed in the fight and momentum switched back and forth. By the end of the quarter, the scores were tied again at 50-50.
Petro took control in the fourth quarter, with Mendoza proving too difficult for Monastir to contain. He finished with 21 points, while Gardner got 19, Solo Diabaté 14 and Yanick Moreira 11. For Monastir, Patrick Hardy Jr. scored 16 points, Radhouane Slimane 13 and Sayeh 11.
Mendoza was the game's top rebounder, too, with 11 boards, 4 assists and a joint-game high 3 steals.
"Rigo has in this team [the responsibility to] the lead the team on defense and offense. Today, he did," Sergio Valdeolmillos said in the post-match press conference, saying that the team is now finding its rhythm after having limited time to prepare together before the tournament.
Monastir head coach Vasco Curado said: "In the second half, we were not good offensively or defensively. When you have 21 turnovers, [it is difficult to win]."
Curado emphasised a necessity for the team to stick together ahead of Monastir's last two games of the conference.
Petro and Monastir now each have two wins from four games, and the Conference is completely up in the air with only two days left of play.
The top two teams will qualify for the playoffs automatically, with the third-placed team joining them if they are one of the two best third-placed teams across the three conferences.
Morocco's FUS Rabat finished third in the Kalahari Conference, which they hosted, with a 2-4 record and the evidence from Dakar so far is that the Sahara Conference has a strong chance of a third-placed team with a better record given how competitive the games have been.
Petro will face ASCVD on Saturday and Kriol Star on Sunday, while Monastir will play Kriol Star first before closing their regular season against the conference hosts.
The BAL airs on ESPN's channels in Africa (SuperSport 218 and 219, Starsat 248).