Ghanaian side Spintex Knights began their Basketball Africa League (BAL) Elite 16 campaign with an 80-94 defeat to Stade Malien.

A poor first half proved costly for the Knights, who trailed 30-43 at the break. Despite a stronger second-half performance, the Ghanaian side could not overturn the deficit and suffered defeat in their Group A opener.

Speaking to FIBA after the game, Knights guard James Amotoe said,

“I think we lost our fighting spirit at some point, and then I think that’s what we are going to work on. I mean, we are down one, two more games to go. Basketball is a game of runs, and their coach did some good adjustments with that.”

“He knew our shots were not falling, so he had to be tactical a bit. So I think kudos to him and then we are, we are coming back stronger and most importantly for us to get stops right from the start of the game.”

In 37 minutes, Amotoe had 19 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists against Stade Malien.