Tunisia survive Guinea scare to stay perfect

 

MONASTIR (Tunisia) - Guinea head coach Zeljko Zecevic attributed his team’s 85-78 overtime defeat to inexperience while Tunisia captain Makram Ben Romdhane insisted that there are no easy games in African basketball anymore.

Tunisia were on a brink of dropping to 1-1 in Group E at the ongoing 2025 FIBA AfroBasket Qualifiers, but a number of inexcusable errors from Guinea saw the African champions stay perfect two games into the Qualifiers.

Omar Abada, who started off the bench for the first time in years with the Tunisia jersey on, proved his value with a game-high of 21 points and Jawhar Jawadi backed Abada with 15 points to give Tunisia a huge morale booster ahead of the clash against Angola on Sunday.

Home fans showed up at Salle Mohamed Mzali in Monastir in their thousands to support their heroes when they needed them most.

”We are thankful for their tireless support,” Ben Romdhane acknowledged.

While Ben Romdhane, Abada and Co completed the job on the floor, Tunisia rowdy fans made their presence felt, disrupting Guinea’s offense in critical moments of the game.

Cheick Sekou Conde, a decent free-throw shooter missed 3 of his 4 shots later in the fourth quarter when Guinea came back from a 15-point deficit to take their first lead of the game (68-65) with 2:15 minutes remaining.

TURNING POINT: Guinea were 73-71 up with less than 10 seconds left when Ibrahima Doumbia fouled Abada who, subsequently, hit his two free-trows that sent the game to overtime. 

Tunisians seized the overtime opportunity to outscore Guinea12-5 and seal the 85-78 win.

GAME HERO: Tunisia fans inside the Salle Mohamed Mzali arena were the biggest winners of the night. Even when Tunisia trailed 73-69 with a minute left, they cheered on their heroes, who made sure to reciprocate their support with a more convincing display in the five additional minutes.

STATS DON’T LIE: Tunisia not only punished Guinea’s 24 turnovers with 33 points, but the three-time African champions also dominated the painted area, outscoring Guinea 33-9.

In addition to their 20 fast-break points, Tunisia’s bench was superb, contributing 49 points against Guinea’s 23.

BOTTOM LINE: Guinea proved once again that they can compete against any opponent in the tournament, but, unless they learn how close games out and control their emotions in defining moments, they will continue to suffer agonising defeats. 

It was a morale booster win for Tunisia who seems to be regaining their winning mentality, which was questioned when they missed out on the qualification to the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

WHAT THEY SAID: “People have to start to realise that African basketball has changed. Most teams come with players competing at top leagues around the world.” - Makram Ben Romdhane, Tunisia power forward.

FIBA