Houana, Chimonzo inspire Mozambique in revenge win over Zimbabwe

BULAWAYO (Zimbabwe) – Mozambique on Sunday avenged their inaugural defeat at the hands of hosts Zimbabwe in the FIBA AfroCan Zone 6 Qualifiers in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

With the 66-53 win Mozambique qualified for the Zone 6 qualifier final and will vie for the sole ticket to the African rendez-vous in July.

Baggio Chimonzo

Thanks to Elves Houana, Ayad Munguambe and Baggio Chimonzo, Mozambique came up with an impressive display and fended off Zimbabwe, who are still contending for the AfroCan ticket.

This victory definitely installed Mozambique in the leader’s seat of Group A after the six games. Zimbabwe are second and Zambia are third.

Once again, the game started with a heated explanation between the two teams. But Mozambique had the upper hand from the first quarter (22-21).

They kept pushing and created a wider gap, leading 40-32 by half-time. But Zimbabwe came back and levelled up in the third quarter.

At this point, it was clear that whoever had nerves of steel would go on winning the game. But, against all odds, Zimbabwe’s coach, Kelvin Ben, decided to bench Vitalis Chikoko, while the latter was the lead scorer.

This was paving the way for Mozambique, who took advantage of the absence of Chikoko, 2,10m (6ft 11in) power forward.

At the buzzer, Houana posted a double-double, with 10 points, 13 rebounds, plus 1 assist and 1 steal. Munguambe was also in the double digits, as he recorded 17 points.

He also added 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 steals to his figures. Chimonzo was the third player to post a double-digit score, with 10 points, while being very active on defense with 5 steals.

These two teams are set to face each other in the Final game, tomorrow, which will decide who will represent the Zone 6 at the FIBA AfroCan in July.

FIBA