Joe
PRETORIA, South Africa – June 5, 2025 — 2024 Basketball Africa League (BAL) bronze medallists, Rivers Hoopers of Nigeria, will renew their intense rivalry with Tunisia’s Union Sportive Monastirienne in a high-stakes placement tie on Saturday, June 7, at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria.
The seeding showdown comes ahead of the BAL Season 5 quarter-finals and is part of the league’s format to determine the final playoff bracket. Both Rivers Hoopers and US Monastir qualified for the playoffs after strong campaigns in their respective conferences, each posting a 4-2 record.
Rivers Hoopers, six-time Nigerian League champions, finished second in the Kalahari Conference and were ranked fourth overall in the Playoffs Team Rankings. Their opponents, nine-time Tunisian champions US Monastir, topped the Sahara Conference and earned the third overall seed.
Saturday’s fixture will mark the fifth meeting between the two teams in BAL history. Their rivalry dates back to the inaugural season, with both teams claiming two wins apiece from four previous encounters. Most recently, in Season 4, the sides met three times — splitting victories in the Sahara Conference — before the Nigerian side, also known as the KingsMen, edged Monastir in a dramatic quarter-final to eventually claim third place.
The placement tie adds another chapter to one of the BAL’s fiercest and most storied rivalries.
Meanwhile, the seeding round will feature four crucial matchups:
- 1st vs 2nd seed: Al Ahly (Egypt) vs Al Ittihad (Libya)
- 3rd vs 4th seed: US Monastir (Tunisia) vs Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria)
- 5th vs 6th seed: Petro de Luanda (Angola) vs APR (Rwanda)
- 7th vs 8th seed: KPA/Kriol Star (Cape Verde) vs FUS Rabat (Morocco)
These placement games, beginning Friday, June 6, will finalize the bracket for the single-elimination playoffs, which will run from June 6 to 14 at the same venue in Pretoria.
The top two teams from each of the BAL’s three conferences — Sahara, Nile, and Kalahari — qualified automatically for the playoffs, along with the two best-performing third-placed teams.
With pride, positioning, and momentum at stake, Rivers Hoopers and US Monastir are expected to deliver another classic encounter in their long-running BAL saga.
