RADES (Tunisia) - Cape Verde suffered a 60-56 loss to Tunisia in their first game of the Second Round of the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers.
It was a game in which the islanders controlled the early stages but went through a scoring drought in the second quarter that proved costly.
During that stretch and the rest of the game, Cape Verde fell short on their defensive assignment, specifically on star point guard Omar Abada, who is the heartbeat of Tunisia’s offense.
In the aftermath of the game, Ivan Almeida said they made some defensive mistakes and lacked patience on both ends of the court, but admitted Tunisia were more disciplined.
“They know how to get the ball to their best player [Omar Abada] to run their offence, but on our end we made a couple of defensive mistakes,” said Almeida.
“Overall, Tunisia were more disciplined. We should have been more patient throughout the game offensively, and defensively, one-on-one defense wasn’t good, and we couldn’t touch Omar Abada. It’s kind of difficult when a player shoots 20 free throws to contain him,” said Almeida.
The loss dropped Cape Verde to 3-4 with games against Guinea and Nigeria still to come on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
“It’s tough, it’s definitely tough [to lose the first game], but with my experience, we have got to remain locked in and believe in the guys and keep getting better.
“It is not all lost yet; I think we can make something here, so we have got to stay focused on the next game. We have got to try and win these next two games. We can not put our heads down right now, because otherwise, all will go to waste. We lost a game; we can not get it back, so we have got to turn the page now and focus on the next game,” Almeida said.
FIBA