ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - Côte d’Ivoire qualified for the final of the FIBA U18 AfroBasket after beating Cameroon 62-57 on Saturday. It is the first time since 2012 that Côte d’Ivoire will be playing a championship game.
Backed by home support, Côte d’Ivoire held on to win a tightly contested game watched by a sizeable and loud crowd at Palais des Sports de Treichville.
The win for Côte d’Ivoire also sends them to the 2027 FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup.
How the game unfolded
Cameroon’s coach Kevin Ngwese went big with his starting line-up, sending in Daryl Baya, Ronny Ewanke and Karl Wabo to start in the front court.
For Côte d’Ivoire’s coach Stephane Konate, the objective was clear: set the tone of the game early, especially defensively. Stay [in touch] with your man, deny the entry pass and stay aggressive in the paint.
After a tightly contested opening exchange, the hosts edged ahead and led 16-10 at the end of the first quarter, but shooting guard James Minlend and forward Joachim Basson erased the deficit early in the second quarter with Wabo’s finish under the basket to cap an 11-3 Cameroon run, forcing coach Konate to call for a timeout. The two sides went shot for shot the rest of the quarter, but Jean Oka’s reverse lay-up at the buzzer had the hosts lead 35-32 at halftime.
An 11-4 run, sparked by Karl-Randell Kouame-Zeze’s pair of corner 3-pointers, to start the third quarter took Cote d’Ivoire’s lead to double digits, and coach Ngwese called for a timeout after which Cameroon scored 7 unanswered points. Despite Cameroon’s run, Cote d’Ivoire took a slim 5-point (52-47) lead to the fourth quarter that Felix Deumi cut to 2 with the first shot of the period.
Cote d’Ivoire’s star man Nathan Djako picked up his fourth foul early in the quarter and was pulled out of the game, but returned with 5 minutes to play and straight away hit a huge 3-pointer, followed by a Kouame lay-up that took the lead to 59-53.
Cameroon made it a 2-point game (59-57) with 50 seconds to play, and Konate called for time, after which Djako was sent to the line, and the shooting guard hit one throw.
Coach Ngwese called for his second-last timeout, and with 35 seconds on the clock and took the halfcourt inbound. Kouame disrupted Nolan Ngangmeni with a solid defensive effort, forcing Ngwese to take his last timeout.
With 4.3 seconds on the shot clock, Baya couldn’t take off a clean shot, but Ngangmeni collected the rebound. However, the ball was ripped out of his hands, and at the other end, Kouame was sent to the line, hitting both shots to seal victory.
Djako finished with a game-high 17 points, and Kouame added 11 points.
Meanwhile, Joachim Barthelemy Basson led Cameroon with 11 points and 5 rebounds.
FIBA