FIBA Basketball

    Victory in four-team tournament morale booster for Senegal

    DAKAR (AfroBasket 2015) - Senegal won all three of their games at the four-team tournament held in their country's capital of Dakar earlier this week and head coach Cheikh Sarr called the

    DAKAR (AfroBasket 2015) - Senegal won all three of their games at the four-team tournament held in their country's capital of Dakar earlier this week and head coach Cheikh Sarr called the overall performance a "morale booster".

    Cape Verde and Mali also took part in the tournament while a Senegal B team replaced Cote d'Ivoire.

    Sarr, who used the tournament to decide on his final roster, said: "We played three games and we won them all. It was important for the morale of my team especially playing against two big teams such as Cape Verde and Mali."

    But the tournament belonged to both Mario Correia and Gorgui Dieng.

    While Senegal ace Dieng was named the event's MVP, Cape Verde shooting guard Correia led all scorers, and both are expected to play determinant roles at the upcoming AfroBasket 2015 in Tunisia (19-30 August).

    ...

    Although the hosts beat Cape Verde 72-50 in the tournament opener, Sarr found the opponents tough to beat.

    "Their coach [Luis Magalhaes] caused us many problems," he said.

    "He is a a great coach and has worked with the Angola team in the past. We won but it was difficult."

    In their second game, Senegal needed to fight hard to see off Mali, 61-52, and they closed the warm-up tournament with a 61-52 triumph over Senegal B, prompting Sarr to say that his team is moving "in the right direction".

    Meanwhile, Cape Verde, sparked by Correia, finished runners-up with a 2-1 record thanks to victories over Mali (75-44) followed by a 73-58 defeat of Senegal B.

    Both Mali and Senegal B, who have not faced each other, finished with 0-2 records.

    "We did a good job," Sarr said.

    Senegal, who received a wild card invitation to take part in this year's FIBA Africa’s flagship tournament, have been drawn in Group B with Angola, Morocco and Mozambique.

    And Sarr insists he knows what to expect from their preliminary round opponents, but he would have loved to play against a North African team during the preparations.

    I am 70 percent satisfied as we need to improve some aspects of our game. - Sarr

    "We would have liked to play a game against a team from Maghreb region such as Algeria for example. This would have allowed us to see the reaction of the team after Cape Verde and Mali."

    "We'll try to improve during our preparations in Spain," Sarr noted.

    Senegal will travel for Spain for the remainder of their AfroBasket 2015 preparations.

    They will compete in a four-team tournament in Santander, taking on the host nation, reigning African champions Angola and Poland on 15-16 August.

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