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2022 BAL Finals
	Official promotion image for the finals
Event	2022 BAL season
72	83
Date	28 May 2022
Venue	BK Arena, Kigali, Rwanda
MVP	Michael Dixon, US Monastir
Favorite	US Monastir (1.38 decimal odds)
Referees	Hortensia Sanchez-Carrizales; Wael Ibrahim Mostafa; Marie Leslie Cherubin
Attendance	10,000
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The 2022 BAL Finals was the championship game of the 2022 BAL season, the second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The final was played in the BK Arena in Kigali on 28 May 2022, between Angolan club Petro de Luanda and Tunisian club US Monastir.

US Monastir won the game after pulling away in the fourth quarter, winning its first BAL and its first African continental title. The game was attended by a sold-out crowd of 10,000.^[2]

Teams

In the following table, finals in the FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup are in small text.

Team	Previous final appearances (bold indicates winners)
US Monastir	1 (2021)
Petro de Luanda	None 8 (1994, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015)

Venue

On 9 December 2021, The BK Arena, then named the "Kigali Arena", was announced as the venue of the 2022 BAL Playoffs.^[3] This was the second consecutive final that was held at the arena.

Kigali	Kigali 2022 BAL finals (Africa)
BK Arena
Capacity: 10,000

Background

Petro de Luanda

Petro de Luanda qualified as the champions of the 2020–21 season and brought back Brazilian coach José Neto for a second season. The core of its roster remained intact, with Anderson Correia and Yanick Moreira being signed as reinforcements on 15 March 2022.^[4]^[5]

Petro had its most successful season in history, as the team won the 2021–22 Angolan Basketball League with an unbeaten record of 33–0. On 11 May 2022, it captured its 15th national title after sweeping Interclube in the national finals.^[6] As the team also won the Angolan Cup and the Angolan Supercup, it captured its first national treble.

In the 2022 BAL Nile Conference, Petro ended in second place after losing only to Zamalek. On 8 May, American guard E. C. Matthews was added to the roster ahead of the playoffs.^[7] After defeating AS Salé in a re-match of last season's quarterfinal, Petro defeated FAP to reach its first-ever BAL final and its ninth African continental final.

US Monastir

US Monastir qualified for its second straight BAL season after winning the 2020–21 Championnat National A title. In the offseason, the club lost its All-BAL star players Omar Abada and Makrem Ben Romdhane in the offseason as they signed in Saudi Arabia and Portugal respectively. The roster was strengthened with Solo Diabate and Michael Dixon, however, while Ater Majok re-signed.

In its domestic competitions, Monastir had another dominant season as it captured its fourth consecutive national title on 11 May 2022, having defeated Ezzahra Sports in the finals. Three days later, on 14 May, Monastir also won the Tunisian Cup to complete the double.^[8]

In the 2022 BAL Sahara Conference, Monastir finished second after a surprising loss against Rwandan club REG. Ahead of the playoffs, the team was strengthened with American guard Julius Coles Jr.^[9] In the quarterfinals, the team blew out Cape Town Tigers by a season-high 39 points difference. In the semifinals, the team defeated Zamalek to take revenge for the previous season's final loss.

Road to the finals

Petro de Luanda

Round

US Monastir

Opponent

Result

Group phase

Opponent

Result

Round 1

Round 2

SLAC

Zamalek

Round 3

FAP

Round 4

DUC

74–62

Espoir Fukash

94–64

Round 5

REG

74–77

Nile Conference second place

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	PCT
1	Zamalek (H)	5	1.000
2	Petro de Luanda	5	.800
3	Cape Town Tigers	5	.400
4	FAP	5	.400
5	Cobra Sport	5	.200
6	Espoir Fukash	5	.200

Source: BAL, Afrobasket
(H) Hosts

Regular season

Sahara Conference second place

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	PCT
1	REG	5	.800
2	US Monastir	5	.800
3	AS Salé	5	.600
4	SLAC	5	.400
5	Ferroviário da Beira	5	.200
6	DUC (H)	5	.200

Source: BAL, Afrobasket
(H) Hosts

Opponent

Result

Playoffs

Opponent

Result

Quarterfinals

FAP

Semifinals

Zamalek

88–81

Game

US Monastir won the first quarter 17–18. In the second quarter, Petro de Luanda made a 8–0 run that included three-point field goals by Gerson Gonçalves and Carlos Morais, to end the first half with a 40–33 lead. Monastir shot 0-8 from behind the three-point line in the first half, and the Tunisian bench was outscored 17–2 by the Angolans.^[10] Following free-throw misses and turnovers by Petro in the third quarter, Monastir only trailed 57–59. Michael Dixon scored a three-pointer to put Monastir up 60–59, their first lead in the second half. Petro big men Jone Pedro and Yanick Moreira were both fouled out with 8 minutes and 1 minutes to go, respectively. With three minutes to play, Carlos Morais made an unsportsmanlike foul on which Monastir capitalise to take a 72–67 lead. The game was sealed with 30 seconds to go after Radhouane Slimane picked up an offensive rebound after a Julius Coles Jr. miss and scored the basket to put Monastir up 78–72. Following a Petro de Luanda time-out, Monastir forward Firas Lahyani stole the ball which gave Petro no chance to come back. Michael Dixon shot 7-of-10 from the field and had 21 points and 6 assists in the game, and following his superb performance, he was named the BAL Most Valuable Player, following Walter Hodge as the second-ever winner of the award. Monastir center Ater Majok, who scored 14 points in the game, was named the BAL Defensive Player of the Year. Gerson Gonçalves scored 28 points for the losing Angolan side, followed by Yanick Moreira's 18 points off the bench.^[10]

28 May 2022	Petro de Luanda	72–83	US Monastir	Kigali
18:00 CAT	Scoring by quarter: 17–18, 23–15, 19–24, 13–26
	Pts: Gonçalves 28 Rebs: Moreira 7 Asts: Gonçalves 4 PIR: Gonçalves 27	Boxscore v t e	Pts: Dixon, Lahyani 21 Rebs: Lahyani 10 Asts: Dixon 6 PIR: Lahyani 24	Arena: BK Arena Attendance: 10,000 Referees: Hortensia Sanchez-Carrizales, Wael Ibrahim Mostafa, Marie Leslie Cherubin

Starters:			Pts	Reb	Ast

PG	5	Childe Dundão	1	3	2
SG	10	Gerson Gonçalves	28	5	4
SF	6	Carlos Morais	12	4	2
PF	15	Aboubakar Gakou	3	4	3
C	21	Jone Pedro	2	3	0
Reserves:
G	00	E. C. Matthews	0	1	0
G	1	Gerson Domingos	3	2	0
C	2	Yanick Moreira	18	7	0
F	4	Olimpio Cipriano	3	3	1
G	11	Thierry Serge Darlan	DNP
G	12	Anderson Correia	DNP
F	24	Ángelo Gouveia Alexandre	DNP
Head coach:
José Neto

Petro

Monastir

0

Petro	Statistics	Monastir
	Statistics
13/24 (54%)	2-pt field goals	21/35 (60%)
10/28 (35%)	3-pt field goals	5/24 (20%)
16/28 (57%)	Free throws	26/34 (76%)
8	Offensive rebounds	8
30	Defensive rebounds	7
38	Total rebounds	26
12	Assists	20
28	Turnovers	18
4	Steals	11
3	Blocks	5
26	Fouls	24

2022 BAL champions
US Monastir 1st BAL title; 1st continental title

Starters:			Pts	Reb	Ast

PG	00	Michael Dixon	21	0	6
SG	5	Julius Coles Jr.	6	1	4
SF	45	Radhouane Slimane	4	8	1
PF	23	Firas Lahyani	21	10	2
C	13	Ater Majok	14	4	1
Reserves:
F	1	Oussama Marnaoui	9	1	1
G	2	Neji Jaziri	DNP
G	10	Solo Diabate	4	3	3
G	11	Houssem Mahemli	0	0	1
G/F	12	Charles Loic Onana Awana	DNP
F	15	Wassef Methnani	DNP
C	21	Mokhtar Ghyaza	4	2	1
F	24	Mohamed Abbassi	DNP
Head coach:
Miodrag Perišić

Aftermath

To honour their championship, US Monastir was received at the Carthage Palace by Tunisian President Kais Saied.^[11] The team was also congratulated on Twitter by Barack Obama, former President of the United States and an investor in the BAL.^[12]