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

Uganda and Kenya are not off to a good start as West Africa sides Senegal and Cote D’Ivoire secure the opening match win thanks to the East Africa counterparts.

Unlike host Rwanda, East African representatives Uganda and Kenya have not shared the joy of opening match glory.

The Silverbacks were faced with the huge task of challenging five-time AfroBasket champions The Lions of Senegal in their Group D opener. Apart from leading all quarters of the games, The Lions made a massive statement in the 3rd quarter with a 19 point range between them and opponent The Silverbacks.

Atlanta Hawks player Gorgui Dieng led the score charts with 19 points while the USA-based Adam Seiko led the charts for Uganda with 12 points. Match ended 93-55 (24-14, 19-17, 28-9, 25-15)

The same fate for Uganda was witnessed for The Morans of Kenya though the difference was not as extended as that from the Silverbacks-Lions game.

It was challenging to predict a probable match-winner after the 1st and 2nd quarter as there was no significant difference between them Q1(26-24) and Q2(13-25) going into the half-time break square.

However, Cote D’Ivoire proved to be the match favorite after ending the 3rd quarter with a 6 point lead Q3(21-15) and also went on to win the match 88-70.

Kenya’s Taylor Ongwae who plays for the Danish club, Bakken Bears topped the score charts with 25 points while Matt Costello helped Cote D’Ivoire secure a win scoring 20 points.

Uganda faces another tough opponent in Cameroon on August 27th. Cameroon were forced to give away a win to South Sudan after registering positive COVID-19 cases in their camp. Cameroon will not make it a smooth ride for The Silverbacks following the circumstances mentioned above.

The same goes to say for The Morans from Kenya as a tough opponent, Nigeria awaits their next fixture on August 27th.