Angola downs Egypt, takes African Basketball Championships

Angola took gold in the African Championships easily dispatching the upset-minded Egypt 57-40.

Discuss the Africa Men’s Championships of Basketball

Angolan star Carlos Marais scored 21 points, more than the third of Angola’s point total. Eduardo Mingas added a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Sheriff Abdalla led Egypt with 15 points.

Egypt looked great at the start of the game, leading 13-12 after the first quarter, but the Angolans asserted themselves defensively full-court in the second quarter. With their full-court defense, Angola was able to change the momentum of the game.

A large part why Egypt struggled could be traced to the Angolan’s defense on Egypt’s center Marei Assem. Assem came into the game averaging 15.8 points and 12.2 rebounds, but was held to just 7 points and 8 rebounds. Assem shot just 1-8 from the field and was scoreless for the game’s first 18 minutes.

The two finalists took different paths to the title game; Angola steamrolled their way there, bringing an undefeated 6-0 record into the game. Egypt on the other hand, started the tournament by losing their first three games before finding their stride. Egypt would win their next three games in impressive fashion – first by upsetting defending champions Tunisia, then beating Cape Verde and Senegal in the next two rounds.

Carlos Morais was also named the tournament’s MVP. and joined teammate Eduardo Mingas on the all-tournament team. The team also included Cote d’Ivoire Souleyman Diabate, Marei of Egypt and Senegal’s Maley Ndoye of Senegal.

Angola reclaimed their title after being upset by Tunisia in the 2011 tournament. With the gold, Angola has now won 11 of the last 13 Afrobasket tournaments.

Angola and Egype are both guaranteed a spot in next year’s Basketball World Cup. They’ll be joined by Senegal, who took third place over hosts Ivory Coast 57-56.

The other nations that competed in the regional championships were Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Ivory Coast, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Rwanda.