Libya 2009 - Second Day: Libyan-Americans can't tame the Elephants

[by Kris SANTIAGO] - I'm back for another quick round-up for the second day of competition right here on FIBA.com.

Hugues Occansey's Mali faced some problems in beating Mozambique, but managed to win the game due to a strong third quarter-performance.
Nouha Diakite was the man of the match with his 17 points in the 67-54 winner, while Octavio Magolico netted in 11 points for the Mozambiquans.
Bad news might be coming in for Mali after Soumaila Samake walked off the court three minutes into the first quarter...

The Central African Republic now needs a win over the Congo after failing once again to receive two points in a game in Libya. The Spiders lost to the Lions 69-82 behind
19 and 18 points from the duo of Muhammed Faye and Boniface Ndong who profited from seven assists off Babou Cisse's hands. Romain Sato clicked in game-high 30 points and Regis Koundjia scored another 14 but the Central Africans lost the battle on the boards where NBA's Desagana Diop pulled 16 rebounds for Senegal down.

Nigeria walked over South Africa in a one-sided affair by the score of 97-49. Champ Oguchi clicked in six threes and one off the field to score 20 points and Mike Efevberha made another 13 in a well-balanced scoring effort by the Nigerian-team. Christopher Gabriel was the only South African to reach double-digits with 13 points and they are now facing elimination if they can't beat favorite Ivory Coast on the last day of group-play.

Cameroon only needed a fast-paced first quarter to clinch the ticket for the eight finals as the People's Republic of the Congo was no match for the Indomitable Lions.
Spain-based Harding Nana led the winners with 14 points, six rebounds and five assists and future-president Alfred Aboya recorded a double-double with ten points and ten rebounds.
Jean Koumba led all scorers in the game with 19 points and grabbed ten rebounds while Morocco-based Herve Assoua chipped in another 12 points, but the Congolese are still winless and need a win on the third day to advance to the next stage.

The Elephants from the Ivory Coast showed no mercy with the hosts Libya and beat those 73-64.
Naturalized U.S. American Errick Craven led the Ivory Coast in scoring with 16 while Stephane Konate came in second with 12 points.
The hosts were led by Alpha Bangura's 21 points while Hiram Fuller secured a second double-double in this tourney with 10 points and 13 boards. Third naturalized American, Randy Holcomb netted another 16 but with no support coming off the Libyan bench, the team now faces a tough task against Nigeria on day 3.

Rwanda surprised Cabo Verde 77-67 although the East Africans were only able to use six of its players.U.S. American Matt Miller led the Rwandans with 18 while another U.S. American, Rob Thomson, scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the winning team. Providence's Jeff Xavier poured in 19 points and Mario Correia managed to add 16 but the Islanders lost the game in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.

Angola showed its supremacy in African basketball and got away with another win, this time over Egypt. Veteran Carlos Almeida clicked in 17 points while Eduardo Mingas added 13 in Angola's 79-69 winner. Guards Amir Fanan and Ramy Al Gunady netted 13 and 12 for the Egyptians, but a weak third quarter vanished all hopes of a happy ending for the Northeast Africans.

In the battle between the Maghreb nations Morocco and Tunisia, the Tunisians showed a great fourth quarter to bounce back into the tournament with a much-needed 98-79 win after a loss to Cabo Verde on the first day.
Amine Rzig, Marouane Kechrid and Naim Dhifallah finally showed off why the team won the Arab nations Cup last month and all three of them scored in double digits. Zakaria El Masbahi could not repeat his highlight-performance from the previous day but had 17 points for the Atlas Eagles and Mohamed Hachad scored team-high 20 points for Morocco in the loss.
The third day will be spectacles in Group D with all four teams are having the same record.

That's all for today, more to come soon!