Ahly deserved to win the Egyptian Clasico against its Alexandrian rival, Sid el Balad, with a final score of 77/82, thanks to a defensive strategy that effectively pressured the Union's professionals, particularly the American player Harris, who managed to score only 12 points, below his usual average of 20 points. Without the giant Abu Alaa, nicknamed Bebo, who was the game's top scorer with 26 points and played a significant role in both defense and offense, Ahly might have secured a larger victory.
The Ahly team set the pace from the start, surprising its Alexandrian opponent with aggressive defense that prevented star Harris from taking control of the game and threatening the red basket, with Makkawi being one of the standout players of the match. In this manner, Ahly maintained its advantage throughout all four quarters, at times extending the lead to 13 points, although Bebo's intervention helped reduce the gap to just 2 or 3 points.
In the final minute, Union nearly turned the game around with four attempts from beyond the arc, but each time the ball hit the rim and returned to the court, proving ineffective, leading the team to pay for its haste and weak defensive coverage. Ahly led in the first and second quarters with scores of 18/19 and 17/24, while Union finished the third and fourth quarters in its favor with scores of 17/19 and 22/23.
Ahly made 8 three-pointers out of 19 attempts, compared to Union’s 11 three-pointers from 38 attempts. In the rebounding department, Ahly recorded 39 rebounds (30 defensive) against Union's 44 (28 defensive). Bebo scored 26 points for Union, followed by Ahly’s foreign player, Nours Koul, with 20 points.
Tomorrow, Ahly will play against Sale Moroccan in the semifinals, while defending champion Kuwait meets Beirut, which advanced at the expense of Algerian Union after winning 78/110. The quarter scores were 17/24, 17/29, 26/22, and 18/25. Beirut scored 15 three-pointers compared to 6 for the Algerian team, with Beirut’s foreign player Tony Michel leading the score with 23 points, followed by his teammate Jean Marc with 20 points and Sergio Darwish with 19 points.
