AfroBasket | 25th African Championship for Men, 4th -15th August, 2009 Tripoli-Benghazi, Libya.

Group A: Nigeria, Libya, Ivory Coast and South Africa
Group B: Egypt, Mali, Mozambique and defending champions Angola
Group C:Cameroon Senegal, Congo and Central Africa Republic.
Group D:Morocco, Tunisia, Rwanda and Cape Verde.

ANGOLA 82 - COTE D'IVOIRE 72...Still Champions!!!

Angola proved once again that they're the best on the african continent with no contest by winning the 25th African Championship for Men in Libya. The first quarter started with the furia of the Ivorians,they came to this big battle without any intimidation, they showed that they wanted that championship title by leading the first quarter with four points ahead (19 - 15)

In the second quarter Amagou Philippe, Eric Tape were unstoppable playing good basket they were all over the court worrying the Angolese and at the half time the board was showing (35 - 34) for the Ivorians. The third quater has always been for Angola in this Championship they started to find the basket with Carlos Morais who made three 3points on the road to put Angola ahead and Joaquim Gomes the MVP of this Championship fighting on the board to take all the rebound. End of the quarter (58 - 54) for Angola.

By seeing that the Ivorians fought to come back in the game with their big man Mohamed Kone making some good shots to tie the game but with the pressure of the Angolese and the inexperience of the young Ivorians Angola came out with the win ( 82 - 72). To give my opinion this Ivorian team impress me a lot if they play together more often something different is going to happen in the next championship I don't want to tell what but let's wait and see. It was a good championship,teams showed some interesting games.

Angolan Center Joaquim Gomes (R) leads the All Star team of the 2009 Afrobasket, as he was voted best center and overall MVP of the tournament. He was companied by playmaker Pape Amagou for Cote d'Ivoire, forwards Romain Sato from the Central African Republic and Amine Rzig from Tunisa, and center Diop deSagana from Senegal.

Angola: Carlos Morais 21, Joaquim Gomes 16+16 boards, Olimpio Cipriano 16, Armando Costa 11
Ivory Coast: Pape-Philippe Amagou 18

Both countries booked a ticket for 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

The All Star Five was selected by journalists and experts of the tournament.Top scorer of the tournament was Romain Sato from the Central African Republic, best rebounder was Robert Thomson from Rwanda, and best three point shooter was Carlos Morais from Angola. Cameroon received the fair play-trophy of the event.

Meanwhile, East Africa's representatives, Rwanda National team ended its participation in the 2009 FIBA Africa Championship as championship ninth best team with a narrow 78-75 points win over five-time champion, Egypt at the Suleiman Al-Darat Hall in Benghazi, Libya. Rwanda won the first and the last two quarters (27-22, 23-22 and 16-12points) leaving the Pharaohs with just a win in the second quarter with 19-12 points. Rwanda forward Robert Thomson had a double double of 19 points and 14 rebounds, Kenny Gasana added 18 points and gave 6 assists, Carlos Mugabo also had a double double of 11 points and 10 rebounds while Mathew Miller contributed 12 points and 4 assists for the defeat of Egypt. The win followed a hard fought 80-77 win over hosts Libya on day seven of the African championships.

Defending Champions, Angola Overcome Nigeria Scare
Defending champion of the FIBA Africa Championship for men, Angola Tuesday won the big battle against Nigeria in a keenly contested match that kept the fans in Benghazi yeaning for more action by 93-85 to top group-E of the Eight-Final-Round. The defending champion won the first quarter by 24-18 while the Nigeria stiff challenge gave in a little as both sides end the second quarter 24 points each.Nigeria gained momentary advantage in the third quarter with quality floor leadership provided by team captain, Gabe Muoneke whose 33 points was not enough to save the day for the Nigerian team who won the third quarter by 23-20 points to go into the last quarter with three point’s deficit of 68-65 points.

Both sides gave the fans something to cheer in the last quarter with quality basketball action but it was the Angolan who ran away with a 25-20 points win for a final score-line of 93-85 points going into the quarter-finals which starts on Thursday at the Africa Union Hall in Tripoli. Eduardo Mingas led the Angolan with 23 points and 7 rebounds, Carlos Morais added 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists while the trio of Armando Costa, Olimpio Cipriano and FeliZardo Ambrosio contributed 13, 12 and 10 points each. Joining Mouneke who scored a championship high of 33 points are Jeleel Akindele and Ebi Ere with 16 and 12 points each.

Rwanda Hit Cameroon As They Continue to Impress at Continental Games
The Republic of Rwanda pulled another tournament upset when they convincingly defeated Cameroon, 2007 runner-up, 82-69 on the sixth day of the 209 FIBA Africa Men’s championships in Libya. Cameroon started the game on a high note, taking the first quarter 18-09 after Ngueyep Nana, Essengue and Ekanga Ehawa teamed up to terrorize the Rwandese. Rwanda turned the table in the second quarter, which they took 20-14 after superb plays from Robert Thomson, Mathew Miller and Kenny Gasana, putting the scores at 32-29 at the break in Cameroon’s favour. On resumption into the third quarter, it was the Rwandese turn to terrorize the Cameroonians, led by Gasana and Thompson, dominating both ends to outscore Cameroon 18-09 and taking a 47-41 lead. With all teams fired up, the last quarter was explosive at both ends, as they traded baskets, blocks, steals and dunks, with the East African representatives, Rwanda carrying the day with a 35-38 fourth quarter win for the hard fought victory. Gasana bagged 24 points and 6 assists for Rwanda, while Nana replied for Cameroon with 12 points.

Eastern Africa Representatives, Rwanda Upset Senegal in FIBA Africa Championships

Rwanda provided one of the best but shocking results of the round-of-eight in the 2009 FIBA Africa Championship for Men at the Africa Union Hall in Tripoli with an emphatic 72-59 points victory over Senegal. The Rwanda who scrap through to this stage due to its only preliminary win over Cape Verde became group-F dreaded side after holding the Senegalese Lions to a 16 points apiece in the first quarter only to breake loose in the second quarter opening an 11 points lead with an 18-07 win to go into the break with 34-23 points advantage.

Boniface Ndong tried to power the Senegalese side back into contention in the third quarter which they won by 21-18 points but it was the Rwanda side who emerge victorious after winning the last quarter by 20-15 points for a cumulative score-line of 72-59 to send clear signal to other teams in the group that they are not in Libya as tourist. Kenny Gasana led the Rwanda side on the score sheet with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, Robert Thomson added 16 points and 8 rebounds while Mathew Miller contributed 14 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Ndong’s Efforts of 21 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists including the 17 points and 11 points, 7 rebounds contributed by the duo of Mohammed Faye and El-Hadji Ndoye were not enough to save their side from defeat.

Champions Angola Whip hosts Libya

Meanwhile, Defending champion of the 2009 FIBA Africa Championship, Angola Sunday stop the initial challenge provided by host Libya in the first two quarters of their group-E opening game in the round-of-eight with a 91-58 points victory to maintain its unbeaten run so far. The Palancras Negras won the first quarter 24-15 but the Libya came out smoking in the second quarter giving their teeming fans hope that they could spring some surprise with the quarter ending by 15 points apiece to trail by 9 points of 39-30 points at half-time.

The Libya soon realise the enomity of challenging the audacity of the Angolans who continue an offensive that was too much for the host to bear to win the quarter by 27-07 points and end the show by providing another stunning display in the last quarter which they also won by 25-19 points. Angola Carlos Morais led the floor with 20 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals while Carlos Almeida added 14 points, 3 steal and 2 assists. Libya duo of Wajdi Dow and Mohamed Zaid had 15 points, 5 rebounds and 11 points.

Past Winners of Men’s Masculine Africa Cups of Nations

Find below, winners of Men's Masculine championships games from 1962 to date thanx. Angola have won a record 9 times and non of their players played in the NBA, just in the Angola, Eurobasketball and Portugual Leagues. Kenya has only participated in one championship when they hosted in 1993 at Kasarani Gymnasium in Nairobi.

Past Winners:
1962: Egypt
1964: Egypt
1965: Morocco
1968: Senegal
1970: Egypt
1972: Senegal
1974: Central Africa Republic
1975: Egypt
1978: Senegal
1980: Senegal
1981: Cote d’Ivoire
1983: Egypt
1985: Cote d’Ivoire
1987: Central Africa Republic
1989: Angola
1991: Angola
1993: Angola
1995: Angola
1997: Senegal
1999: Angola
2001: Angola
2003: Angola
2005: Angola
2007: Angola
2009: ? ? ?

Info: FIBA Africa. Additional Info AlsaBasketball
Photos: FIBA, alsaINTERACTIVEMEDIA

©2004-2009 An Official ALSA™ Product All Rights Reserved. No portion of alsabasketball.co.ke may be duplicated, redistributed, or manipulated in any form without authorized permission or acknowledgement of source.
the Webmaster | Sponsors