PRAIA (Cape Verde) - Egypt, Nigeria, Guinea and Mali all booked their place in the Semi-Finals of the ongoing FIBA U16 African Championship 2019 in Praia, Cap Verde. 

Egypt set the tone with a 78-51 win over Rwanda, Nigeria followed in same style humbling Tunisia by 86-36 points and come Angola who many thought Guinea some form of confrontation but fell by 77-54 points. Reigning Champions Mali complete the semifinal field with a 61-41 win over hosts Cape Verde.

The four teams will do battle on Saturday in a bid not only to secure a ticket for the title game but also to get the right to represent Africa at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2020.

Egypt vs Guinea

The three-time FIBA U16 African Championship winners boast of intimidating statistics which might be a challenge for the energetic Guinean side.

Egypt have a scoring process of 78.8 points per game against 56.2 points per game for Guinea. They north Africans also carry better knowledge of the board with 65.8 rebounds and above 50% from free throws.

Key Players:
Abdullah Ahmed (EGY) - 14PPG; 12.3RPG
Ibrahima Diallo (GUI) - 11.8PPG; 4.2RPG

Mali vs Nigeria

The Mali and Nigeria match-up is one game that both sides can not afford to lose focus which makes more important for their bench to be alert at all time.

Though Nigeria has better statistics than Mali in both scoring and on the board with Nigeria sharing the joint top in scoring with Egypt at 78.8ppg and 67.0rpg to Mali 62.2ppg and 59.6rpg, but the semi-final match-up is a different setting all together where teams have eyes not just for the top podium finish but a guarantee of claiming a spot for next year's U17 World Cup.

Key Players:
Abdramane Kanoute (MLI) - 11.4PPG, 5.8RPG
Farouk Isah (NGR) - 17PPG, 3.8RPG

FIBA