LUANDA (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers) - Angola on Saturday thrashed Chad 90-50 in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers and became the region's third team to qualify for China 2019.

The win saw the Angolans improve to 8-3 in Group E, moving them into second position behind Tunisia who have won 10 of their 11 games to date.

Angola made light work of the Central African outfit from the onset leading 24-16 at the end of the first quarter with seasoned guard Reggie Moore dropping 11 of those points. 

For Chad, Michael Koibe had also scored an impressive 11 points and would later be limited to just one more point in the other three quarters that were dominated by the home side. 

Yannick Moreira recorded the game's only double double with 13 points and 10 rebounds to inspire Angola to their eighth record appearance for an African side at the FIBA Basketball World Cup. 

Carlos Morais once again rose to the occasion converting four times behind the arc and eventually amassing a joint-game high 14 points while Moore added a basket to his previous count. 

Angola dominated the boards with 47 rebounds as compared to Chad's 39 - a statistic that will impress Voigt whose reign at the helm of this team has brought a ray of hope with a new generation of young players coming through the ranks despite the pressure within. 

 Will Voigt's team joins Nigeria and Tunisia in reaching the World Cup. The winners of the last two FIBA AfroBaskets were the first teams to clinch their places at next year's World Cup during the last window of the Qualifiers in September.

Angola are also the third team to secure their safe passage to the World Cup in this window of the Qualifiers, after Australia and  France did so on Friday.

"IT FEELS GOOD TO HAVE QUALIFIED. I AM VERY PROUD THAT WE ACCOMPLISHED THAT GOAL. WE CAME HERE TO WIN ALL THREE GAMES SO WE HAVE ONE MORE JOB TO DO. THIS WIN MEANS A LOT TO US," - Voigt. 

It means the number of qualified teams for the first-ever 32-team FIBA Basketball World Cup so far stands at nine: Angola, Australia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Nigeria and Tunisia. They join tournament hosts China.

Speaking at the post-match press conference a happy Voigt told the media that, "Our crowd is very special to us and we feed off good energy from them. We really feel a responsibility to play that way. We were so excited when we found out that we were going to host this window."

Angola hosted the first window last November winning all three games and with these two so far have improved their home record to 5-0 in front of their home fans. 

"It feels good to have qualified. I am very proud that we accomplished that goal. We came here to win all three games so we have one more job to do. This means a lot to us."

Twenty-two more teams will qualify over the remainder of this window of the Qualifiers and in the sixth and final window in February 2019.

FIBA