2019 FIBA Africa Basketball League

The 2019 FIBA Africa Basketball League was the 33nd edition of FIBA Africa's premier club Basketball tournament and the 1st under the new format and new name. The season saw an expansion from twelve to sixteen teams.

Africa Basketball League
Season2019
DatesFebruary 8 – May 26, 2019
Number of games24 (group stage)
12 (knockout phase)
Number of teams42 (qualifying tournament)
16 (group stage)
Regular season
Season MVP Eduardo Mingas
Finals
Champions Primeiro de Agosto
(9th title)
  Runners-up AS Salé
Third place Smouha SC
Fourth place JS Kairouan
Statistical leaders
Points Reggie Holmes 20.2
Rebounds Todd O'Brien 12.0
Assists Ahmed Dhif 5.7
Efficiency Maodo Nguirane 21.7
← 2017

The season began on February 8, 2019, and ended on May 26, 2019, with the conclusion of the Final Four. The Final Four was hosted at the Kilamba Arena in Luanda, Angola.

It was the last season of the league as the competition was replaced by the Basketball Africa League (BAL), a new competition jointly established by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and FIBA.

Competition format

FIBA Africa has increased the number of participating teams from twelve to sixteen.[1] These teams get their ticket for the Africa Basketball League through regional qualifiers (Zone 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of FIBA Africa).

The qualifiers for the Africa Basketball League Group stage was held from September and until mid-December 2018, while the final phase will take place from January 11 to April 21, 2019, in various African cities.

The 16 teams qualified for the round of 16 will be divided into 4 groups of 4 teams each and the competition will take place in the form of a championship where each team will face respectively the 3 opponents of his group. Then, the first two clubs in each group will qualify for the Elite 8 where the clubs will be divided into four groups of two teams each and then games will be played in a home and away format.[2] At this stage, the competition will be played in a one-way match against the principle of direct elimination. The Four winners will advance to the Final 4, that will be played on April 20 while the final take place the next day.[3]

Qualification tournament
ZoneQualified teamsEliminated teams
Zone 1
Zone 2 SLAC
  • MBC
  • USFAS Bamako
Zone 3
Zone 4
  • CAS 1987 Le Phoenix
  • San Antonio
  • Jet 7 CB
Zone 5 Al Ahly, Smouha, REG
Zone 6 Ferroviário da Beira, Primeiro de Agosto, Petro Luanda
Zone 7 COSPN

Teams

A total of 16 teams from 10 countries will contest the league.

Venues and locations
Location of teams in 2018–19 FIBA AfroLeague
Team Home city Arena Capacity
AS Salé Salé Salle El Bouâzzaoui 2,000
ES Radès Tunis Salle Taoufik-Bouhima 3,500
JS Kairouan Kairouan Salle Aziz Miled 2,000
SLAC Conakry Palais de Sport du Stade du 28 Septembre –
Rivers Hoopers Port Harcourt Rivers State Basketball Complex 2,000
Civil Defenders Abuja Abuja Sports Hall 3,000
Elan Sportif Porto-Novo Hall des Arts Loisirs et Sports Boulevard Saint-Michel[lower-alpha 1] –
BC Terreur Kinshasha Martyrs Sports Complex 2,000
BC Mazembe Lubumbashi –
Al Ahly Cairo Al Ahly Sports Hall 3,500
Smouha Alexandria Ittihad Sports Arena 2,000
Ferroviário da Beira Beira Estádio do Ferroviário Indoor Hall –
Primeiro de Agosto Luanda Pavilhão Victorino Cunha 1,500
Petro de Luanda Luanda Pavilhão da Cidadela 6,873
COSPN Antananarivo Palais des Sports Mahamasina 7,090
REG Kigali Amahoro Indoor Stadium 2,500
  1. Despite being from Porto-Novo, Elan Sportif hosted the team games at the Hall des Arts Loisirs et Sports Boulevard Saint-Michel (H.A.L.S.) in Cotonou.

Schedule
Phase Round Draw date Games
Group stage January 12, 2019 February 8 – March 10, 2019
Elite 8 First leg March 22, 2019
Second leg April 14, 2019
Final Four Semi-finals April 27, 2019 May 24 and May 26, 2019
Final and third place

Group stage

The draw was held in Abidjan on 12 January 2019.[4]

The two teams with the best records for each group qualified to Elite 8.[5]

Group A

Pos Team Pld W L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 AS Salé (H) 3 3 0 272 222 +50 6 Advance to Elite 8
2 JS Kairouan 3 2 1 241 212 +29 5
3 Rivers Hoopers 3 1 2 205 254 −49 4
4 SLAC 3 0 3 233 263 −30 3
Source: FIBA
(H) Host

Group B

Pos Team Pld W L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 ES Radès 3 3 0 236 187 +49 6 Advance to Elite 8
2 Civil Defenders 3 2 1 209 213 −4 5
3 Élan Sportif (H) 3 1 2 193 207 −14 4
4 Terreur 3 0 3 185 216 −31 3
Source: FIBA
(H) Host

Group C
Main article: 2018–19 Africa Basketball League Group C
Pos Team Pld W L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Primeiro de Agosto 3 3 0 243 196 +47 6 Advance to Elite 8
2 Al Ahly (H) 3 2 1 241 239 +2 5
3 REG 3 1 2 226 225 +1 4
4 Ferroviário da Beira 3 0 3 209 259 −50 3
Source: FIBA
(H) Host

Group D

Pos Team Pld W L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Smouha 3 3 0 276 177 +99 6 Advance to Elite 8
2 Petro de Luanda 3 2 1 235 216 +19 5
3 ASB Mazembe 3 1 2 220 222 −2 4
4 COSPN (H) 3 0 3 196 312 −116 3
Source: FIBA
(H) Host

Knockout phase

Bracket
 
Elite 8Final fourFinal
 
                
 
 
 
 
 AS Salé 69 96 165
 
 
 
 Civil Defenders 69 77 146
 
 AS Salé 81
 
 
 
 JS Kairouan 73
 
 ES Radès 67 73 140
 
 
 
 JS Kairouan 68 74 142
 
 AS Salé 71
 
 
 
 Primeiro de Agosto 83
 
 Primeiro de Agosto 70 74144
 
 
 
 Petro 57 57 114
 
 Primeiro de Agosto 86
 
 
 
 Smouha 76Third place
 
 Al Ahly 82 88170
 
 
 
 Smouha 91 88 179
 
 JS Kairouan 58
 
 
 Smouha 69
 

Elite 8

The Elite 8 games were played in a home and away basis from March 22, to April 14, 2019.[6]

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Civil Defenders 146–165 AS Salé 69–69 77–96
JS Kairouan 142–140 ES Radès 68–67 74–73
Petro de Luanda 114–144 Primeiro de Agosto 57–70 57–74
Smouha 179–163 Al Ahly 91–82 88–81

Final Four

On 19 April 2019, the Kilamba Arena in Luanda, Angola was announced as host of the Final Four.[7] The draw was held on 27 April 2019 in Abidjan.[8]

Semifinals
24 May 2019 AS Salé 81–73 JS Kairouan Luanda
Scoring by quarter: 19–20, 27–15, 19–17, 16–21
Pts: Wood 27
Rebs: Choua 10
Asts: El Ghazi, El Mahsini 4 each
Eff: Kourdou 24		 Boxscore Pts: Gilbert 24
Rebs: Nguirane 14
Asts: Dhif 7
Eff: Slimane 19		 Arena: Kilamba Arena
24 May 2019 Primeiro de Agosto 86–76 Smouha Luanda
Scoring by quarter: 20–25, 24–12, 30–17, 12–22
Pts: Harris 24
Rebs: Mingas 12
Asts: Costa, Quezada 7
Eff: Mingas 35		 Boxscore Pts: Justice Jr. 23
Rebs: Sarhan 6
Asts: Justice Jr. 5
Eff: Justice Jr. 20		 Arena: Kilamba Arena

Third place game
26 May 2019 JS Kairouan 58–69 Smouha Luanda
18:30 Scoring by quarter: 14–24, 12–13, 17–17, 15–15
Pts: Gilbert, Kochat 15 each
Rebs: Gilbert 14
Asts: Dhif 4
Eff: Kochat 19		 Boxscore Pts: Justice Jr. 22
Rebs: Okosun 15
Asts: Justice Jr. 3
Eff: Okosun 23		 Arena: Kilamba Arena

Final
Main article: 2019 Africa Basketball League Final
26 May 2019 AS Salé 71–83 Primeiro de Agosto Luanda
18:30 Scoring by quarter: 17–26, 17–16, 19–13, 18–28
Pts: Arnold 21
Rebs: Najah 13
Asts: El Mahsini 5
PIR: Najah 18		 Boxscore Pts: Mingas
Rebs: Mingas 11
Asts: Quezada 7
PIR: Quezada 21		 Arena: Kilamba Arena
Attendance: 5,500[9]

Awards

The individual awards were announced on May 26, after the conclusion of the final.

Statistics

Statistics as of the ending of the season.[12]

Individual statistical leaders
CategoryPlayerTeam(s)Statistic
Efficiency per gameMaodo NguiraneJS Kairouan21.7
Points per gameReggie HolmesAl Ahly20.2
Rebounds per gameTodd O'Brien14.0
Assists per gameAhmed DhifJS Kairouan5.7
Steals per gameReggie HolmesAl Ahly2.6
Blocks per gameMohamed ChouaAS Salé2.0
Turnovers per gameJames Justice Jr.Smouha3.0
Minutes per game34.1
FG%Augustine Okosun59.0%
3P%Ahmed Azab Farag60.0%
Double-doubles Maodo Nguirane JS Kairouan 4
Todd O'Brien Al Ahly

Individual game highs
CategoryPlayerTeam(s)Statistic
EfficiencyEduardo MingasPrimeiro de Agosto35
Abderrahim Najah AS Salé
PointsManny QuezadaPrimeiro de Agosto36
ReboundsAubin Junior Kasongo BC Mazembe23
AssistsYassine El MahsiniAS Salé13
StealsCarlos CabralPrimeiro de Agosto8
BlocksNick WestES Radès5
Turnovers Engelbert Beleck REG 8
2-point field goals Elhadji Mbodji ES Radès 12
3-point field goalsReggie Holmes Al Ahly7

References
  1. Découvrez l’Afroleague, la nouvelle compétition de clubs de FIBA Afrique
  2. Zone 3 champions Rivers Hoopers Basketball Club will know their opponents for the 2019 FIBA AfroLeague later in December
  3. "Competition System". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  4. Draw Results FIBA Basketball
  5. "FIBA Africa Basketball League has arrived! Everything you need to know about this week's Group C games". fiba.basketball. 7 February 2019. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  6. Elite 8 pairings set following conclusion of Group Phase fiba.basketball. 11 Mar 2019. Retrieved 13 Mar 2019.
  7. "Luanda named as hosts of FIBA Africa Basketball League 2019 FINAL FOUR". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  8. "Final Four pairings confirmed". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  9. "Huge crowd witnesses D'Agosto set a record 9th African title". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  10. "Eduardo Mingas claims MVP award of #AfricaLeague 2019 FINAL FOUR". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  11. "Justice Jr. Mingas, Kourodu highlight FIBA ABL 2019 All-Star team". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  12. "Players statistics of the FIBA Africa Basketball League 2019". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
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