Libya 2009 - Third & Fourth Day: Cape Verde out; Rwanda In

[by Kris SANTIAGO] - It's time again to give you guys a quick overview of the last two days in Libya:

On the third day, Cape Verde dropped out of the championships after a tough 83-86 loss to Morocco while Rwanda made the headlines by qualifying for the eight-finals although loosing to Tunisia 57-74.
The Cape Verdeans were in the lead 1.19 minutes before the final whistle due to a converted three by Jeff Xavier but after two fouls on Abderrahim Najah, the Moroccans were able not only to equalize the score but to turn the game around and Jeff Xavier now was the tragic figure on the court when he failed to convert two crucial shots in crunch time while Younes Idrissi sealed the deal with two points to give Morocco the edge. Rwanda, who is suspected of playing the tournament with only two Rwandan-born players, could not succeed against Tunisia but were qualified for the next stage due to their win over Cape Verde.
Teams that did not make the field of the last twelve includes: South Africa, Mozambique, Cape Verde and the Republic of Congo.

On the fourth day, Cape Verde, which plays the classification round (Places 13-16), blasted Congo 63-100 while Mozambique beat South Africa 69-67. Jeff Xavier chipped in game-high 38 points while Jean Koumba got 18 for the winless Congolese squad. Octavio Magolico led Mozambique with 17 points and nine rebounds while Neo Mothiba recorded a double-double (20 and 14) like his fellow countryman Christopher Gabriel (15 and 17) but the South Africans failed once again to beat their arch-rivals this year.

As expected, Angola and Nigeria stayed undefeated in the second stage (eighth-finals)
Angola had no trouble to beat the hosts behind a strong performance of Carlos Morais (20p.) and a well-balanced offense in which almost all players scored. Little used Wajdi Dawo led the Libyans with 15 points, but Alpha Bangura, Hiram Fuller and Randy Holcomb failed to reach the double digits in scoring.

Mali boosted their chances to advance to the quarters while the Ivory Coast dropped in the rankings after a 71-58 in favor for the Malians.U.S.-based Waly Coulibaly converted four three-point shots to lead all scorers with 16 while Eric Didier Tape clicked in 13 for the Elephants.

Nigeria is en route after an 87-77 win over Egypt thanks to blogging-hoopster Gabe Mouneke's 14 points. Ramy Al Gunady netted 16 for the Egyptians who are almost eliminated from the next round.

Tunisia almost made it sure to reach the quarter-finals after a hard-fought 76-75 against the Central African Republic. Once again the three veterans provided firepower for the Tunisians.
Amine Rzig, Naim Dhifallah and Atef Maoua combined for more than two-third of the scoring (51 of 76 points) for Tunisia who is now 3-0 in the second stage in Libya.
The Central Africans are on the verge of being eliminated although they have strong Italy-based Romain Sato (18 points and nine rebounds) in the line-up.

Cameroon improved to a 2-1 record after routing the Moroccans 80-54 thanks to Jo Ekanga-Ehawa's 13 points while the pair of Brice Vounang and Yves Mekongo-Mbala followed with 12 points.
Mohamed Hachad and Zakaria El Masbahi caught a bad day and only the two centers of Morocco, Yunss Akinocho and Reda Rhalimi scored in double-digits with ten each.

Finally, the big surprise came in by the 72-59 winner of Rwanda over Senegal. Kenny Gasana and Rob Thomson were leading the multi-cultural pack with 18 and 16 points who are still in the hunt for a place in the quarters. The Lions had their best as usual in Boniface Ndong (21) and Muhammad Faye (17) but struggled mightily from the three-point line (six of 28) as well as from two-point range (13 of 36).

My current championship-ranking looks as follow:

1. Angola
2. Nigeria
3. Cameroon
4. Tunisia
5. Mali
6. Senegal
7. Ivory Coast
8. Rwanda
9. Morocco
10. Egypt
11. Libya
12. Central African Republic

That's all for now, check back within the next hours for more coverage!