Abidjan Basket Club of the Ivory Coast defeated Senegal in the first encounter.

The Sahara Conference in Senegal's city, Dakar, triggered the hostilities on Saturday.

Already a huge hit with the Senegalese As Douanes' 70-76 loss to the Ivorians of Abidjan Basket Club. It is the ideal start for the Fighters in their lengthy journey towards the final tournament in Kigali, Rwanda.

"Very happy, twice happy, particularly when you beat the home side in the first game. It is the Holy Grail. But the most essential thing for us is not to rest on our laurels. The most essential thing is to keep winning games "ABC Captain Stephane Konate confirmed.

Winning game after game, hoping to fall on a squad as generous as AS Douanes. The Gabelous could not have done any better in terms of shooting, defense, and rebounding.

"We only have ourselves to blame. We missed far too many easy points offensively. Then we were dominated on the inside battle at times. We didn't recover as well as we should have. We scored 22 points on counter-attacks and will need to change our mindset for the remaining games "AS Douanes coach Mamadou Gueye acknowledged as much.

The Senegalese have no more leeway. The Douanes must respond against Rwanda Energy Group on Wednesday. As a refresher, this Sahara Conference features six teams, including Tunisia's US Monastir.

Wahany Johnson Sambou, Africanews' reporter in Senegal, added:

"It is thus on this victory of ABC Fighters of Abidjan that begins this third season of the Basketball Africa League. The Ivorians defeated AS Douanes of Senegal 76-70. AS Douanes lost due to clumsiness, as opposed to the Ivorian squad, which could rely on a certain Harouna, who scored 25 points, including 5 out of 10 in shots.