Myck Kabongo brings on a good performance to guide his side in a close win against neighbors Central African Republic.

Myck Kabongo spent 28 minutes on the court making 11 points and picking 5 rebounds with an efficiency of +7. Coach Mathias Eckhoff mentioned in the post-match press conference that Kabongo played well, his team was a little stagnant which helped his opponent in this first game for them in the FIBA AfroBasket 2021 Qualifiers

Congo DR off to a good start in a close match against neighbors the Central African Republic in a struggle that the former led by only 4 points. Coach Mathias Eckhoff’s side, Congo DR, in the 1st quarter had to battle keep the opponent off their back when it ended 15-16.

Congo DR managed to stretch the lead in the 2nd and 3rd quarter in which they led by 7 points each. later in the 4 quarter, the winners only managed to make 2 points against the 13 points from their opponent, a difference of 11 good points. Had the Central African Republic been given more, it is quite clear that higher chances are that they could have closed the gap.

Jordan Sakho performed well for his team when after 26 minutes played, he made 7 points, 15 rebounds with the best efficiency in the game of +16.

“It certainly was challenging, they are emotional, they are competitors, they want to win at all costs and we have not really built the shared habits that you need to perform as well as you can certainly on the offensive side,” said head coach Mathias Eckhoff.

For the Central African Republic Allen Julien Dokossi was the top performer with 15 minutes played, 9 points, 5 rebounds, and efficiency of +9.

Congo DR faces Tunisia while the Central African Republic faces Madagascar, both games to be played tomorrow.

More Fixtures Here

Mohamed Abbassi shines for his nation as they triumph against opponents Madagascar.

Tunisia lead by head coach Dirk Bauermann started their FIBA AfroBasket 2021 Qualifiers on a jubilant note after they defeated adversary Madagascar in the contention that ended 89-52.

Mohamed Abbassi had a FIBA stat efficiency rating of +21, the best among all participants in the match. Mohamed played over 17 minutes, made 12 points and 11 rebounds. Tunisia did not allow Madagascar a chance to close the gap in the lead that they had the entire match. Tunisia won all 4 quarters of the game 22-16, 20-13, 29-10, and 18-13.

Madagascar had performances from Francis Ramanampamonjy Mory who played 26 minutes with 12 points and 2 rebounds. Madagascar found it hard to keep up the scores against strong opposition in Tunisia.

Captain Makram Ben Romdhane in a post-match press conference said, “First of all I am very happy how we played because everybody from 2017 we did not play any friendly game after the World Cup. We a team new, young player, like 5 new players in our team. With this strictness in CoronaVirus, we have more than 6 months, 7 months without games with a new coach, with a new philosophy.”

“I am very proud of the young players and the new players, how they played and I am very happy also about the old players, how they help the young players, to help them be perfect in this game and I hope we continue like this,” the captain added.

Tunisia will play Congo DR in their coming game tomorrow and Madagascar will face the same team the following day.

More Fixtures Here

In the first day of the 2021 FIBA Afrobasket, which took place on Wednesday, November 25, 2020, the Kenya National Basketball Team started with a heavy defeat from Senegal while Angola beat Mozambique 

The Morans needed to climb a mountain to retain points in front of Senegal. In the first Quarter, Kenya stood up and ended it in tie, 19-19. In the second Quarter, Senegal started too high and registered 13-0 in the first three minutes. Morans tried to close the gap however, the second quarter ended with a 14 point difference, 47-33 in favor of Senegal lions.

The Morans returned in the 3rd quarter with a lot of effort and beat the Lions 19-11. So far, there was a difference of 6 points but they failed to get back in last quarter of the game due to many turnovers and fouls, Kenya ended this quarter in a 34-2 loss therefore ending the game at 92-54. Senegal’s Ibrahima Faye scored the game’s highest points, 19. While Tylor Ongwae scored 13 points on the Kenyan side.

The lions of Senegal did not have their captain, Maurice Ndour who arrived in Rwanda, unfortunately, he was unable to take part in the game against Kenya due to a Covid-19 test administered upon arrival with positive results.

In the second game, Angola led all quarters of the game against Mozambique to hand them their first loss of the campaign. The match ended with a score of 87-58.

The games continue today with four games on the agenda:

11:00 CAT, Nigeria vs South Sudan
14:00 CAT, Kenya vs Angola
17:00 CAT, Mozambique vs Senegal
20:00 CAT, Mali vs Rwanda

East African side the Kenya Morans will not have big man Wamukota Bush in the AfroBasket Qualifiers first window while South Sudan Basketball Federation president will coach his side.

In the friendly basketball game played at Kigali Arena yesterday Tuesday, November 24th, 2020, in which Kenya beat South  Sudan by one point (67-66), Center Wamukota Bush did not play for the Morans. In the same match, South Sudan Basketball Federation boss took matters into his own hands to coach his team that played well against the Morans

The Kenyan star Wamukota played for the Patriots in the BKBNL closing tournament that was concluded last month from where he traveled to play for ASB Masembe with plans to come back to Kigali to represent his nation in the AfroBasket 2021 Qualifiers. Unfortunately, the Morans Center was denied access to board his flight at the Kinshasa International Airport on Monday.

In the African continent nation dominated by a tall population, Former Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng assumes charge to lead his side in the clashes starting today through to November 29th. South Sudan was favorites to complete this Group D after a decision by the Algerian team to withdraw from the tournament early this month.

Afrobasket 2021 Qualifiers Kigali window games commence today with Senegal taking on Kenya in the opener and Angola Vs Mozambique thereafter.

FIBA announced that all games will be played behind closed doors but fans can watch the them on Canal+ Sports and StarTimes KC2 Rwanda.