2013 AfroBasket: Angola, Egypt, Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal book their place in last four

Angola player dribbling past Morocco

Angola, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal booked their place in the semifinals of the ongoing 2013 FIBA Africa Championship for Men (2013 AfroBasket) at Cote d’Ivoire.

Angola cruised past Morocco 95 – 73 riding high on 16 points from Small Forward Olimpio Cipriano. Leonel Paulo netted 14 points while M. Barros & C. Morais netted 11 points each for Angola.

Angola took the first and second quarter 26 – 12 and 24 – 16 respectively. After the break, Angola again came out strong and took the third quarter 26 – 22 and pulled the match away from Morocco. Morocco tried to come back in the game by winning the last quarter 23 – 19, but the damage was already done in the first half by Angola as they booked their spot in the last four of the championship and move a step closer to the 2014 Spain FIBA World Cup.

In the second quarter-final of the Championship, Egypt sneaked past Cape Verde 74 – 73 to enter the last four. Cape Verde took the first and second quarter 19 – 16 and 21 – 20 respectively and went into half-time with a four point lead. However, Egypt came back in the match in the third quarter and took the third quarter 25 – 15 to go to the last quarter with a six point lead. Cape Verde gave a tough fight in the last quarter by winning the last quarter 18 – 13, but could not stop Egypt from going through. S. Abdalla scored 18 points while H. Khalifa scored 17 points for Morocco. B. Rudolph Jr. scored 19 points for Cape Verde.

Hosts Cote d’Ivoire also entered the last four of the championship beating Cameroon 71 – 56 in the third quarter-final of the championship. The hosts took the first quarter 24 – 14, while Cameron tried to come back in the match by taking the second and third quarter 18 – 16 and 15 – 10. But Cote d’Ivoire took the match away from Cameroon by taking the last quarter 21 – 9.

Senegal surprised title contenders Nigeria 64 – 63. Nigeria took the first quarter 25 – 16 but Senegal surprised them by taking the second and third quarters 19 – 12 & 19 -12 respectively. Although Nigeria took the last quarter 14 – 10, it was not enough for them to stop Senegal from entering the last four of the championship.

In Friday’s semi-finals of the 2013 AfroBasket, Cote d’Ivoire takes on Angola, while Egypt face Senegal. The top three teams will get the ticket for the 2014 Spain FIBA World Cup.

The 2013 edition of AfroBasket is being held at Cote d’Ivoire’s capital city of Abidjan from 20 to 31 August 2013, with 16 African nations fighting for the prestigious title.