Marnaoui, Crawford give US Monastir Playoffs hope

No-one epitomized US Monastir’s fighting spirit better than Oussama Marnaoui and Chris Crawford who powered the Tunisian champions to a crucial 83-70 win over APR on Thursday.

24-year-old Marnaoui was dropped from the starting line-up for George Williams, but when US Monastir needed him most, he delivered a man-of-the-game performance.

US Monastir trailed 54-50 at the end of the third quarter with Marnaoui recording just three points. He finished with 16 points off the bench.

But he triggered the 2022 BAL winners’ comeback by hitting two consecutive three-pointers that completely changed the course of the game early in the fourth quarter.

Marnaoui’s pair of three-pointers helped US Monastir embark on a 11-0 run as they took their first lead (56-54) in the second half.

Marnaoui’s effort give US Monastir hope of fighting for one of the remaining three playoffs spots.

Crawford was lethal from behind the arc, shooting 6-for-9 to finish with a game-high of 31 points to help US Monastir improve to 1-3.

Rwanda’s APR started the game with a 7-0 run, but US Monastir never lost patience despite trailing for most of the game.

When Dario Hunt was benched after picking up his fourth foul with 2:20 minutes left in the third quarter, APR were never the same again.

Hunt returned midway through the fourth quarter but couldn’t rescue the Rwandan champions from the hole they found themselves in.

Chris Crawford buried a three-pointer for a 69-56 lead with 4:59 minutes on the clock, APR then threw the towel in.

Shortly after, Hunt fouled out with 4:22 minutes left on the clock finishing finished with a team-high of 17 points while Obadiah Noel added 15 in the losing cause.

Reflecting on US Monastir’s first win of the 2024 BAL season, Mokhtar Ghayaza said: “That’s the mentality we lacked in the last three games. Everyone contributed.”

He continued: “It was a very important game for us because we desperately needed to win it; Had we lost today it probably would have been the end of the season for us, and we didn’t want that.”

“The next two games will be like finals for us,” the three-time AfroBasket winner said.

APR guard Adonis Filer, who came up with 9 points and 11 rebounds, noted that the reason why they lost the game was because “We couldn’t get stops; we gave up some offensive rebounds and we couldn’t make any baskets.”

Filer went on to say: “We got away from our principles, we gave up some shots that we shouldn’t have given up; they made some big baskets; I am not taking anything away from US Monastir, they are a great team with great players.”

Both APR and US Monastir return to action on Saturday after a rest day on Friday.