ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - Mali will play in the semi-finals for the ninth consecutive FIBA U18 AfroBasket. The West Africans beat Tunisia 66-55 in the first quarterfinals on Thursday.
The first quarter of Thursday afternoon's matchup at the Palais des Sports de Treichville was a tactical battle, with the game played at a slow tempo — Tunisia's comfort zone. Tunisia's point guard, Adem Rafrafi, was in control, running and directing the offense well.
However, the pace increased slightly in the second quarter as the noise from the Mali fans' drums in the stands grew louder.
While Tunisia remained focused during the early stages of the period, Mali slowly pulled ahead and led 33-25 at halftime.
Mali gained full control of the game in the third quarter with suffocating defense, limiting Tunisia to eight points, and also got going offensively, scoring 23 points.
With Mali leading by 21 midway through the final quarter, Tunisia could not overcome the deficit and ultimately fell short.
Mali had a team performance, with all but one player contributing at least two points. Mohamed Keita and Mahamadou Sylla scored 12 points each, the only players to reach double figures.
Meanwhile, Rafrafi (15 points), Fed El Air (14), and Abderahmen Bouguerra (12) scored in the double digits for Tunisia.
What they said
“Congratulations to the Young Malians and also to Tunisia, who put in a worthy performance. It is worth remembering that this was an AfroBasket quarterfinal match—you have to wait two years to play in an AfroBasket game. It is different from the group stage matches. Tunisia came and gave it their all; they arrived with a game plan. They wanted to win this match at all costs [but] we held firm. The young players followed the instructions, and the objective was to win the match. Thank God we managed to win, and congratulations to them.” - Moussa Cisse, Mali head coach.
“We started making a lot of mistakes. We made a lot of choices—bad choices. We put ourselves in very difficult situations. At halftime, we were down by five or six points. Then, things didn't go well for us in the third quarter, either. We managed to bounce back in the final quarter, though. And then, there was the mental aspect—the pressure. The players were a bit stressed about wanting to advance—they wanted to make it to the final. We were a bit tense. In critical moments, we didn't find the right solutions.” - Anis Ben Hadj, Tunisia head coach.
FIBA