AfroBasket - Angola survive CAF scare, resilient Egypt fall again

ABIDJAN (AfroBasket/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - The highlight of Day 5 at AfroBasket 2013 was an astonishing performance by the Central African Republic (CAF) who scored 30 of their 80 points from behind the arc and forced Angola to step up their game in order to register an 85-80 win.

Tony White was a one-man show as he led CAF with 17 points while Carlos Morais and Reggie Moore had 18 points apiece.

CAF, who trailed most of the game, took a 71-67 with five minutes remaining.

With Olimpio Cipriano sitting out, veterans Carlos Almeida and Morais took over and led the Angolans to victory as they remained unbeaten in Group C.

For the first time in the tournament, the host nation Cote d'Ivoire won by single digits, edging out Egypt 69-62. The home side had to wait until the very end to clinch their third consecutive win to remain perfect and stay top of Group A. They will take on debutants Burkina Faso in Monday's Eighth-Finals.

The win over Egypt was Cote d’Ivoire’s toughest test as they compete for a place at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Mamadou Lamizana led the way with 18 points as the Ivorians needed to step up their game to beat a determined Egypt team paced by Assem Marei who was extremely dominant on both ends of the court. He finished with a massive double-double of 25 points and 19 rebounds - a tournament high so far - including 16 points and 12 boards in the first half alone.

Despite Marei’s mammoth game, Egypt could not avoid their third consecutive defeat in the tournament.

In the second Group A game of the day, Algeria showed once again they are ready to cause damages in the tournament as they pushed Senegal until the very end of the game before falling to a 62-57 loss.

Despite having a much smaller team, the Algerians outrebounded (44-31) Senegal, the tallest team in the tournament.

Both Maleye Ndoye and Louis Adams came off the bench to reignite a Senegalese team that trailed by as many as five points in the first 15 minutes of the game but in the end prevailed to stay second in the group behind Cote d’Ivoire.

The day's play opened with Cape Verde taking their second win in Group C, getting the better of Mozambique 65-53 to seal second place behind Angola in Group C.

Dimitry Coronel hit four three-pointers on his way to a game-high 18 points while Mozambique's Pio Matos - the team's only player to score in double digits - finished with a dozen.

For full and in-depth coverage of AfroBasket 2013, go to the official website http://abidjan2013.fibaafrica.com/.

FIBA