The Tunisia National Basketball team was yesterday evening crowned 2021 AfroBasket champions after beating Côte d’Ivoire 78-75 in Kigali Arena. It is a back-to-back trophy and the 3rd time since 2011 that Tunisia has become Champions of Africa.

Following the 12-days of the unprecedented continental basketball event in Kigali Arena, September 5th, 2021 marked the end of the 30th edition of the AfroBasket with Tunisia asserting its dominance on the continent after defeating Côte d’Ivoire that had a 5-0 winning streak prior to the final. The streak included winning against favorites, Nigeria and Senegal.

The Tunisians successfully defended the title won in 2017, by beating Côte d’Ivoire 78-75 on final, 25-18, 22-16, 18-25, and 13-16 the scores of 4 quarters of the game.

Tunisia Star Salah Mejri was simply incredible for his team. He finished with 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots in the 24 minutes spent on court.

Souleyman Diabate for Côte d’Ivoire was really good with 20 points and 2 assists, but he needed some help from his teammates in order to complete a comeback in the second half, especially with Matt Costello neutralized by Mejri and Zouzoua unable to play. Jean-Francois Kebe added 10 points.

In halftime, the FIBA Africa that was celebrating its 60th anniversary also recognized a trio for writing history at AfroBasket:

Tunisia’s Slimane Radhouane for a record of participating in 9 AfroBaskets, Kenya Morans head coach, Liz Millis as the first female coach at the AfroBasket. Then Stephane Konate, Côté d’Ivoire captain who bid farewell after playing 8 AfroBaskets.

Earlier, Senegal defeated Cape Verde 86-73 to take third place, with 30 points coming from the NBA Star Gogui Dieng. Walter Tavares led Cape Verde with 18. Senegal finished 3rd again as they did in the last edition.

Senegal Power Forward, Gorgui Dieng’s fantastic play throughout the tournament did not go unnoticed, with a spot in the All-Star five. Tunisia’s Omar Obada was also rewarded for his performances in this 2021 AfroBasket as the best PG, earning a spot alongside his compatriot Makram Ben Romdhane on the team. Romdhane, best SG, was later voted as 2021 AfroBasket Most Valuable Player.

Côte d’Ivoire’s Matt Costello was named in tournament-best five together with Cape Verde’s Walter Tavarez. Tavarez was awarded as the best Rebounder too.

The best three-point shooter’s award goes to Angolan Carlos Morais while Gorgui Dieng’s 120 points earned him the best scorer award.

The 2021 AfroBasket host Country, Rwanda finished 11th however they were awarded a FairPlay award.

East Africa’s last shot at an AfroBasket title laid in the hands of the Silverbacks yesterday, unfortunately, Cape Verde had other plans.

The 2021 edition of the AfroBasket attracted 4 East African countries, namely, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and South Sudan. All 4 nations managed to make it through the group stages to the playoffs qualifiers.

It was at this stage that the true potential of East Africa was put to the test. Host Rwanda was faced with the hurdle of Guinea, Uganda with Nigeria, and South Sudan with Kenya.

Rwanda and Kenya were the first East African nation to get ejected from the tournament at the playoffs qualifiers stage after losing 68-72 and 60-58 respectively which left only 2 contenders.

Uganda and South Sudan advanced to the quarter-finals where they were to battle Cape Verde and titleholders Tunisia respectively.

Yesterday, Tunisia vs South Susan was first on the schedule, and for those who watched the game, South Sudan did a tremendous job holding Tunisia till the half-time break when scores were square at 40 each.

Tunisia went ahead to win the match 80-65 thus eliminating yet another East African Nation from the tournament.

It was now down to the Silverbacks from Uganda who were in the spotlight for East Africa. Cape Verde dominated 3 quarters o the game. Uganda tried to come back in the last quarter of the match but it was clear enough that the point difference was too big for the Silverbacks to close the gap.

Cape Verde went on to win the match 79-71 thus ending East Africa’s chances at a first AfroBasket title.

The closest East Africa has gotten to the title was in September of 1993 when The Morans of Kenya, also the host, emerged 4th in the tournament.

Cape Verde, Tunisia, Cote d’Ivoire, and Senegal remain in contention and we are yet to find out who will continue to the final later today. Tunisia and Senegal are 2021 Afrobasket favorites with Senegal holding 5 titles and Tunisia 2 trophies plus being title holders.

Uganda’s Silverbacks astound Nigeria to write history by making the quarter-finals of the AfroBasket 2021 despite money concerns in camp.

In the 2015 AfroBasket tournament held in Rades, Tunisia, Nigeria were crowned champions lifting their first-ever trophy of the tournament. In this tournament, Nigeria faced new entrants, the Silverbacks, and quelled them 98-59.

It was a completely different ball game come to the 2021 Afrobasket where Nigeria did not expect that the then-new entrants would hatch a plan that would have the title contenders out of the tournament.

“The key to the game was our defense. Holding them under 36 percent from the field; we forced 19 turnovers. I think what is going to be more impactful in the future is the influence that these players will have on the new generation,” Uganda head coach George Galanopoulos said.

Robinson Opong’s domination behind the arch accumulated 18 out team-high 19 points with a match-high efficiency of +23. Deng John Gue had the most playtime followed by Ishmail Wainright and Arthur Kaluma. All 3 players contributed 11 points.

The Silverbacks had complete command of 3 quarters of the game with Nigeria trying to pull back in the 4th quarter. At some point in the match, the silverbacks had a 21 point difference over 2015 AfroBasket winners, Nigeria.

Q1 (12-24) Q2 (19-20) Q3 (18-23) Q4 (19-13) Full-time 68-80

The Silverbacks came into the tournament with a couple of financial issues but this was no reason to deter the team from winning against Nigeria to proceed to the Quarter-Final stage of the tournament. The Silverbacks now face the hurdle of Cape Verde in the Quarter-Finals.

Meanwhile, host Rwanda’s journey at the tournament came to an end after losing their playoffs qualification match to Guinea 68-72.

Guinea stuns Rwanda to eliminate the hosts from 2021 AfroBasket in a thrilling game of Quarterfinal playoffs that saw Syli National overcome the 10 points deficit in the fourth quarter.

Rwanda led by 2 points in the opening quarter of the game, 15-13 but Guinea snuffed out the deficit before the second quarter ended. The Syli led by just one, 31-30, at the break.

The third quarter was dominated by the hosts as the crowd support was immense. Kenneth Gasana’s 13 points in the third quarter helped Rwanda take the 10 points lead before the final quarter, 24-13 to make it 54-44.

Guinea, through captain Cedric Mansaré, displayed an outstanding performance in the last quarter to thrash Rwanda and end their hopes of progressing in the quarter-final for the first time in history. They come from ten points down in the third quarter to end the game with four points difference. 72-68

Rwanda had more than enough chances to win it however, some poor shot selections in the last quarter cost them the game.

On the other side, It was a historic day in Guinea Basketball as they reached Quarterfinal for the first time since 1962. The Syli achieved this exciting milestone after beating Egypt in the last group stage game and upset Rwanda in last night’s quarter-final playoffs game. They have a mountain to climb in the quarter-final as they face off their neighbor Côte d’Ivoire.

Cedric Mansaré scored a team-high 16 points while Rwanda’s Kenneth Gasana dropped the game and tournament-high 28 points.

This was the fifth AfroBasket for Kenneth Gasana since he represented Rwanda for the first time in 2009. Kenneth had been one of Rwanda top scorers through previous editions of AfroBasket too

Rwanda’s 2021 AfroBasket journey goes to end