OPQT's: Guinea shock African champions Tunisia to reach Semi-Finals

LAGOS (Nigeria) - Guinea caused the biggest upset of the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Lagos so far after beating Tunisia 95-86 to advance to the Semi-Finals where they will face Senegal.

Guinea, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, made the  reigning African champions suffer for most of the first half. When Alpha Diallo hit a buzzer-beater three-pointer to give his team a 49-41 lead at the break, Tunisia realized they were in real trouble and needed to bring their A-game in the second half to halt Guinea's attacking mode.

More than trying to protect their perimeter line, which allowed Guinea a 5-for-11 three-point success in the first half, Tunisia had to find ways to handle the ball better, make some shots and keep their composure.  But things went from bad to worse when they found themselves trailing by as many as 17 points in the third quarter.

Alpha Kaba led the way for Guinea as he finished with a team-high of 22 points and Alpha Diallo came up with 19 points and 10 assists even though he fouled out with three minutes left. Omar Abada was a one-man show for Tunisia, finishing with a game-high 26 points and 9 assists.

Tunisia became the second highest-ranked team in Africa, after Nigeria to finish the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament with a 0-2 mark in the Group Phase. Meanwhile, Guinea improved to 1-1 ahead of the Semi-Finals. 

This is probably the second most important triumph for Guinea basketball in the wake of its U16 team spectacularly winning the African Championship last month in Monastir, Tunisia.

FIBA