Ongwae makes BAL debut with ABC Fighters in close loss to Petro

Kenyan power forward Tyler Ongwae made his first appearance in the Basketball Africa League on Sunday night for his new club Abidjan Basket Club (ABC) Fighters as they narrowly lost to Angolan club Petro de Luanda 88-84 in a tightly contested quarter finals matchup at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.

Playing the third most minutes for the side, Ongwae averaged 31:47 minutes on the floor, posting seven points, five rebounds and four assists, while shooting 3 for 10 from the field.

Ongwae was also one of the three new acquisitions for the Ivorian club to be handed a start, playing alongside Tunisian Omar Abada and Guinean Ousmane Drame, all who led the team’s scoring with 21 and 14 points respectively.

Praised pre-game about his ability to perform well as a two-game player, Ongwae grabbed four offensive rebounds and had a steal to go with a defensive board, while making 50% of his mid-range shots.

The former Parma BC player also left his imprint on the game as he made a move from the left wing with 5:48 left on the clock in the third quarter before cutting in the lane with an explosive dunk off an Omar Abada down-low pass.

“A little bit of experience, I think,” ABC coach Liz Mills, the former Kenya Morans tactician, replied when asked about the difference between her team and Petro de Luanda. “The fact that we’ve put this team together only four days ago, I couldn’t be more proud of how they played.

“At the end of the day, experience mattered, but credit to them, but we really felt like we could have won the whole thing.”

The defeat means that the Fighters are eliminated from the BAL at the quarter finals stage in their debut, with Jose Neto’s Petro advancing to the semifinals, where they will take on AD Douanes on Wednesday at the same venue.

Ongwae, one of the most pivotal players for Mills when she coached the Kenyan national basketball team, achieved lofty standards in the 2021 Afrobasket tournament, and became the second Kenyan to feature in the BAL after Bush Wamukota.

Tylor Ongwae joins Ivorian side ABC Fighters for upcoming BAL Playoffs

Ongwae was the top scorer in the 2019 AfroCan Championships and recently a game MVP for his former side BC Parma (Russia).