Amin, Marei spark Egypt in demolition over Senegal
What happened Friday night at Borg El Arab Arena on the outskirts of Alexandria was not the best Senegal can do, said Senegal head coach Boniface Ndong after his team humiliating defeat to Egypt.
ALEXANDRIA (Egypt) - What happened Friday night at Borg El Arab Arena on the outskirts of Alexandria was not the best Senegal can do, said Senegal head coach Boniface Ndong after his team humiliating defeat to Egypt.
Sitting next to Ndong, during the post-game press conference game, Gorgui Dieng agreed.
"It was unacceptable. We can do better than that," Dieng emphasised after Senegal's 76-43 defeat.
It was Senegal's largest loss margin against Egypt, and the biggest in the African Qualifiers history after the 89-61 defeat to Nigeria in September 2018.
Assem Marei opened the scoreline with two free-throws to mark his first points for Egypt since June 2018.
Dieng immediately responded with a three-pointer to earn Senegal a 3-2 lead, but what followed next was a true demolition of Egypt over Senegal.
Egypt kept Senegal scoreless for over seven minutes in the first ten minutes thanks to their aggressive and suffocating defence.
Inspired by a tremendous team effort, Egypt used a 12-0 run (15-3) before Senegalese Ibrahim Faye came off the bench to minimise the damages with a drive to the basket.
At that moment of the game, Egypt made Senegal look an ordinary team before closing the opening quarter with a 23-10 lead.
Roy Rana's team never slowed it down, while Senegal couldn't find answers to Egypt's exceptional game plan.
It didn't surprise o see Egypt heading to the locker room with a comfortable 38-25 lead.
The 3-2 Senegal lead earlier in the game was the only moment they were in front in the highly anticipated game between two African powerhouses.
To every Senegal attempt to fight back, Egypt responded even more aggressively.
And heading to the final quarter with a 59-35 lead was the reflection of Egypt's dominance of the game.
"You can't turn the baller over this many times (27) if you want to win a ball game," Ndong said as he offered his thoughts on his biggest defeat as head of Senegal, a team he captained for years before calling it quits.
It was an uncharacteristic night for Senegal who out-rebounded Egypt 50-45 but could only make 17 of 62 of their field-goals.
Dieng, the only Senegalese to score in double digits, finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Egypt made the most of a their deeper rotation with Ehab Amin leading the way with 22 points and Marei contributing 10 points and 9 rebounds.
It was Egypt's third win in four games in the African Qualifiers while Senegal dropped to 2-2 ahead of the game against the DR Congo, a team that stunned Senegal in front of their home crowd in Dakar in February.
FIBA