23 November 2022 | Basketball

City Oilers are close to qualifying for the Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2023. The National Basketball League champions have secured two wins in their group at the ongoing Division East qualifying tournament at Ellis Park Arena in Johannesburg, South Africa. By winning the two games, the Oilers qualify for the semifinal of the tournament and now need to finish in the top 3 to qualify for BAL 2023. On the tournament opening day (Tuesday), the Oilers beat COSPN of Madagascar 71-59 with Germaine Roebuck Jr netting a game-high 17 points. Falando Jones and Titus Odeke came in handy with 15 and 11 points respectively. In their second game on Wednesday afternoon, City Oilers beat Matero Magic of Zambia 83-73 with Falando Jones and Germain Roebuck combining for 50 points. Jones scored 26 points while Roebuck added 24 points in the win that sealed a semifinal place for the team. Titus Odeke, Uchechi Ogbonna, and Ngor Barnaba contributed 9 points each. Next Up City Oilers will face Ferroviario Beira in the last group game on Thursday at 5:30pm (EAT) in a match-up whose winner will top the pool. The Mozambique side has also won two games, against Matero Magic (63-57) and COSPN (84-53).

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