YAOUNDE (Cameroon) - Lerry Rostand Essono Mve on Wednesday evening justified why he is the leader of Gabon as he landed a double-double performance to help his country to a hard-fought 54-52 win over Chad in Yaounde, Cameroon.

He finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. 

Gabon raced to a 15-8 points win in the opening period but were kept at bay in the second quarter as Chad transition paid winning the quarter by 22-10 to take a 5-point (30-25) advantage going into the break.

Sensing what the Chadian were are up to Essono Mve rallied his teammates from the restart of the action packed battle in the third period as both sides exchange lead at interval, but it was the Gabonese who prevailed at the buzzer winning both the third and fourth quarters (16-11, 13-11).

Gabon duo of Jarode Meyet Aworet and Gaius Mewourou combined for 27 points for their side first victory in the 5-team Zone 4 AfroCan Qualifiers in Yaounde where only one team will qualify for the Final Round billed for Angola in July.

In a chat with FIBA.basketball, Mewourou praised his team's effort. 

"I must admit that the Chad is a very good side because they took the game to us and. I want to give kudos to my teammates and technical crew for getting the job done and our next focus is the game against the Central Africa Republic which is expected to be explosive," the 20-year-old concluded.

Chad Ronald Nato Kolmia led the floor with 21 points but all that efforts was not enough to save his side from going down.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAF) v EQUATORIAL GUINEA

In the first pairing of the day the Central Africa Republic defeated Equatorial Guinea 113-52 to set a record of being the first team to reach a centenary points in the Zone 4 Qualifiers.

Six players on the roster (Yasser Kamagengue, Metson Nambai, Morel Lenguewane, Frederic Samedi, Jean Ghislain and Omega Ngaifei) of the Coach Bruno Darlan-tutored team  combined for 80 points of their team total.

Head Coach of the Equatorial Guinea side, Francisco Ndong Obiang Maye, shared his thought on the game: "I find it hard to believe that we were taken apart that way but we hope to get over it before our next game against Chad on Thursday," declared Maye.

FIBA