ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - Cameroon won the central African battle with Chad to advance to the 2026 FIBA U18 AfroBasket Semi-Final.
The 2024 finalists claimed a 77-49 win, but it was a victory they had to work for as the first half of the contest was a close affair.
Before the matchup, the two teams had not been defined by scoring but rather by their defensive effort, and that is how Cameroon pulled through after a difficult first half.
Chad started off the game with good outside shooting, making the first four 3-point attempts to lead 14-5 but Ronny Ewanke and Daryl Baya went strong on the inside bullying their way to the basket and the first quarter ended all square at 18.
Cameroon went ahead 28-20 early in the second quarter but Chad never backed down, stepping up their defense towards the end of the period and made it a three-point game (32-29) going into halftime.
“It was a very difficult first half,” coach Kevin Ngwese admitted. “I’m happy with the players’ reaction in the second half, mostly in defense. We forced them to make turnovers, and our finishing was good. We got it going, we turned to our plays and then we got success in our three-point shooting,” Ngwese added.
Towards the end of the first half, Chad’s star forward Ngaba Yaya got into foul trouble with four and had to sit out the third quarter. Still, the early third quarter belonged to Chad, who oscillated between man-to-man and zone, making it difficult for Cameroon to score.
However, a late flurry from shooting guard James Minlend, who finished with 12 points, had Cameroon up by 7 (50-43) at the end of the period.
The wheels then completely fell off for Chad early in the fourth quarter and Cameroon took full control of the game running to a 28-point win.
“In terms of defense, we held them to less than fifty points. That’s a great defense. I'm happy for the guys because when you see the other results of Chad, even against Ivory Coast, they score more than fifty. Now I can say my guys were very good on defence, and I appreciate that,” Ngwese said.
Ewanke and Baya used their side to dominate with each scoring 18 points. Felix Deumi and Nolan Ngagmeni contributed 9 and 8 points respectively.
Chad coach Asnal Noubaramadje finds no fault in his team but rather pride in the success the team has had at their first U18 AfroBasket. He says it was a difficult game to win with Ngaba in foul trouble.
“I need to say there is no bad thing in our team. You know, we did everything right. We lost the first game, then we won two, and then we went to the quarters.
“Cameroon is not a small country; it’s a big country, and then they have a lot of players. I mean, they were strong. We played how we needed to, but there was no way for us to win this game today because our MVP [Yaya Ngaba] got four fouls early in the game, so it was very tough for us to survive without him.”
Despite his foul situation, Ngaba finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, Junior Djibrine 12 points while Mahamat Aka (11) and Timothee Ndohoudou (10) also scored in double digits.
Next Up
Cameroon will take on hosts Cote d’Ivoire in the semifinals on Saturday, August 15 while Chad plays Egypt in the 5-8 classification on Friday, August 14.
FIBA