In a nail-biting game, Antino Jackson Jr. emerged as an unlikely hero, saving the day for the RSSB Tigers.
Although Teafale Lenard Jr. led the Tigers with 26 points, Mangok Mathiang scored 18 points and had 12 rebounds, it was Antino Jackson Jr. who sank the three-pointer that secured the Tigers’ 82-78 victory over Petro de Luanda on Sunday at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria.
Before sinking the game-winning three-pointer with just five seconds left on the clock, Antino Jackson Jr. had missed all five of his shots and spent most of the second half on the bench. Being handed the role of game-decider after such a start was far from ideal.
“I work hard on my game,” Jackson Jr. told the BAL.NBA.Com.
He went on saying: “I was on the bench for much of the second half, but I just wanted to stay professional. When I got back in the game, I knew I had to deliver. I just made the play… I took the shot. I shoot these shots every day.”
The outcome of this game was uncertain until the end. Even when the Tigers reached their largest lead of 11 points in the fourth quarter, Petro de Luanda refused to give up.
Uncertainty loomed when Childe Dundao converted two free throws, tying the game at 78–78 with 19 seconds on the clock.
That was the moment when Jackson Jr. decided to rewrite the narrative with his three-pointer, followed by a free throw that gave the RSSB Tigers a four-point win.
“We knew they had played back-to-back games and had played hard last night. We knew we needed to come in and set a fast pace. This win was really important for us,” Jackson Jr. explained.
The RSSB Tigers showed tremendous resilience, coming back from a 10-point deficit to trail by just two (36–34) at half-time.
Jackson Jr. explained that their ultimate goal was to reach the BAL Playoffs in their home city of Kigali in May.
To advance to the postseason, the Tigers will have to finish among the top four teams in the Kalahari Conference.
“We just need to finish it,” he said.
“We beat two tough teams. We’re just trying to keep winning. Kigali is behind us. People don’t realise that this group only formed ten days ago from two separate teams. This is our national team. We showed resilience tonight and got the job done.”
Asked to elaborate on what helped RSSB Tigers improve to 2-0, two games into the season, he replied: “There are a lot of hungry dogs on this team, and we’re a strong squad. You can’t count us out. We don’t have a ceiling. There’s no pressure — one more game and we’ll secure our place back in Kigali.”
“It was a 50–50 game,” Dundao insisted.
But the Angolan international also admitted where the difference between the two teams lied. “They were mentally stronger than us,” he said.
“Unlike us, they performed well in the last few moments of the game. That was the difference. We’ll bounce back stronger.
We knew it was going to be a tough game. I don’t think we lost the game because of our missed three-pointers. We lacked concentration towards the end, and this cost us the game.”
After the two games, RSSB Tigers remained undefeated while Petro de Luanda dropped to a 1-1 mark.
