AFROBASKET - Tunisia, Senegal win again

ANTANANARIVO (Afrobasket) - Bronze medalists two years ago in Libya, Tunisia won their third game on Day 6 of Afrobasket 2011 while Senegal followed up their big triumph over Angola with another success.

Tunisia remained unbeaten clinched first place in Group D with a 65-52 win over Central African Republic on Monday.

CAF led 4-2 early in the contest but the rest of the game belonged to Tunisia.

Michael Mokongo was a one-man show for CAF with a game-high 26 points - half of his team points.

CAF finished with just five assists.

Meanwhile, Tunisia's Radhouane Slimane, Mourad El Mabrouk and Marouan Kechrid's combined for 40 points.

Seven-foot shot-blocking machine Salah Mejri led the way on the boards with seven rebounds.

Tunisia did a great job of taking CAF star James Mays out of the game because he had a day to forget with just five points in 28 minutes.

In the early game of Group D, Rwanda were led by Kenneth Gasana, who had a game-high 19 points and also dished out nine assists, to beat Togo 87-67.

At the break, Rwanda had a 51-18 stranglehold on proceedings.

Senegal rolled to a 92-54 victory over Chad and sealed top spot in Group B.

Papa Ndiaga Diasse had a game-high with 31 points and 10 rebounds. Diasse became the first player to reach 30 points in a game, in this year Afrobasket.

Senegal were so much better that coach Alain Weisz rested key men Malick and Maleye Ndoye.

In the Chad team, Bienvenu Djimassal had 15 points.

In the last game of the day, defending champions Angola beat Morocco 75-61 for their second victory to seal second place in Group B.

Despite the win, the defending champions did not turn on all cylinders.

A nervous start saw them turn the ball over seven times in the first quarter..

The Angolans trailed by a point at the end of the frame but went to a 3-2 zone defense and disrupted the Moroccan attack.

Morocco were still within striking distance when Angola stretched their lead with an 8-2 run in the last five minutes of the contest.

Armando Costa led the Angolans with 21 points and four assists while Kamal Hachad paced Morocco with 14 points.

With the preliminary round finished, all 16 teams qualified for the Eight-Finals.

On Tuesday, Nigeria face Chad, Cameroon clash with Togo, the CAF take on Egypt and Angola meet Mozambique.

On Wednesday, Ivory Coast square off against Rwanda, Tunisia go up against South Africa, Senegal take on hosts Madagascar and Mali play Morocco.

Julio Chitunda
FIBA