NAIROBI (Kenya) - Tanzania's Dar City made their debut in the East Division Elite 16 with a bang, recovering from a slow start to rally for an 85-78 victory.
The team's victory came off six players as coach Mamadou Gueye elected to play the core of his squad that did duty in Dar es Salaam for the qualifiers, new addition Youssou Ndoye the only other player to get on the scoresheet off the bench, for 10. It was largely a team victory, Dar City who trailed early, going on to lead by as many as 18 at one point, holding on despite a late rally from Matero to win by seven in a match that witnessed seven lead changes early on.
The Zambians had a second quarter to forget, allowing Dar an eight-point advantage that came back to bite them as they rallied in the second half.
Deng Angok Yak Deng shot 5-of-8 on the paint adding two treys while converting all seven chances from the charity stripe for 23 points, completing a double-double with 12 rebounds. Nisre Zouzoua Raphiael Putney added 18 and 16 points respectively, Solo Diabate coming two assists shy of a double-double after scoring 13.
Omar Kojo Thielemans scores six in the opening four minutes to take Matero ahead 9-6, Marc Seylan extending their lead to 12-6. Dar City fought back, Zouzoua's three handing them the lead at 13-12. Elijah Mukelabai and Zaid Christopher Hearst made contributions, Seylan adding four to hand the Zambian a five-point advantage at 20-15. The Tanzanians, however, led 21-20 at end of the quarter. Putney got action going in the second quarter, but Wamulundi Simwinga responded to take Matero 26-23 up. A 10-0 run for Dar changed the game's momentum as the Group D winners extended their grip on the game at 39-31, with treys off Zouzoua and Deng, dominating the quarter 21-13 for a nine-point advantage.
Matero trailed by 16 halfway through the third quarter, but played for 11-0 to cut their deficit to single digits at 57-50, a 23-22 quarter leaving them eight points behind. Coach Chandler Easton Livingston Simon's side continued their comeback efforts in the fourth stanza, falling short in a 22-21 quarter.
"The Zambian team gave us their all. It was a tough game, very aggressive and it took a bit of time for us to get into rhythm. We are building day by day and I believe by the end of the championship this team will be way better than this. We now have presence on the paint with Ndoye joining, we now have options. We are also learning on this tournament, I definitely did not expect the physicality but we are looking forward to the next game where we come back stronger," Dar City Forward Deng Angok Yak Deng.
"We started off well given that we were not really organised in the beginning and had little time to warm up. However, we started being a bit messy, and turned the ball over several times. In the end, we were afraid to go to the basket after a couple of blocks, but we can't get soft going forward. We have a few new players in the squad and we are still getting used to playing with each other. There are just a couple of things that if we clean up on and we should be okay," Matero Magic forward Omar Kojo Thielemans.
FIBA