KIGALI, Rwanda -- South Africa's Made By Ball (MBB) recorded their second win on the bounce in Kigali on Thursday, keeping their playoffs dreams alive, beating home side APR 94-88 in a physical contest.
MBB moved within one win of qualifying for June's playoffs in Pretoria, while APR squandered a chance to book their place early. Jovan Mooring led the scoring with 29 points, while 7-foot-2 21-year-old center David Craig grabbed 10 crucial boards along with his 9 points and two blocks.
The first time these teams played each other in the conference, MBB had led at half-time but squandered the game in the third quarter. Once again, they were quick out of the blocks.
APR were missing the injured Aliou Diarra but limited the deficit to 16-15 at the end of the first quarter.
Youssou Ndoye wrestled the ball from Pieter Prinsloo and landed an and-one basket and the ensuing free throw to put APR ahead at the start of the second quarter.
MBB crept back in front with Mooring and Teafale Lenard Jr. the key players early on, but Obadiah Noel levelled the scores with a three and then gave APR a 25-24 advantage with a free throw. The back-and-forth flurry continued with APR taking a 39-38 lead into half-time.
This time, the third quarter was a reverse of the same stage of the previous fixture between the two. On this occasion, MBB dominated, taking a 67-58 lead. Mooring and Lenard Jr. continued to lead but there were big shots all over the floor - including clutch three-pointers from Robinson Odoch Opong and Lebesa Selepe.
APR stayed within touching distance in the fourth quarter and a dunk from Ndoye with two minutes to go got the crowd hyped, reducing MBB's lead to 81-76. However, two missed free throws from William Robeyns and a two-pointer from Pieter Prinsloo took the sting out of APR's tail. Chasson Randle fired back with a basket at the other end.
After Mooring landed one out of two free throws, Noel hit a huge three to get the home fans back on their feet, but Odoch Opong raced up the other end to score a layup.
APR could not get their momentum back as MBB moved to the brink of becoming the second South African side to progress past the regular season.
In order to qualify for the playoffs in Pretoria, MBB and APR need to finish in the top three out of four teams in the conference. Another win for either side and/or another defeat for Nairobi City Thunder (NCT) in either of their last two fixtures would guarantee this.
The top two teams will automatically qualify for Pretoria, while the third-placed team will progress if they have a better record than FUS Rabat had at the Kalahari Conference - 2-4 with a -19 points difference.
Al Ahli Tripoli have already assured their progression to the playoffs after four games with a 4-0 record. APR and MBB each have a 2-2 record, but are separated by APR's superior head-to-head record.
The Rwandan side won their previous fixture against MBB by 22 points, losing by a smaller margin of six today. APR's points difference is now 23 and MBB's is -25. NCT are 0-4 with a whopping -71 points difference.
MBB will play NCT in the 2:30pm CAT tip-off on Saturday as they look to clinch qualification with a game to spare before APR host Al Ahli Tripoli at 5:30pm.