In Kigali, Rwanda

Nigeria Wednesday began their campaign on a bright note when they beat Mali 81-73 in a Group “C” match in the 2021 Fiba AfroBasket championship at Kigali Indoor Arena in Rwanda.

Kenya’s Morans are expected to play their opening match against five-time champions Cote d’Ivoire later Monday.

Mali, who are ranked ninth in Africa, fought back in the second quarter and scored 31 points, reducing Nigeria’s lead to one point. By half time, the scores stood at 44-43 and the game ended with 28-12, 16-31,  27-10 and 10-20 in the four quarters.

Nigeria’s Benjamin Emelogu did most of the work. He emerged the match’s top scorer with eight rebounds, four assists and two steals to make 18 points. Teammate Ozudinma Utomi also registered a double digit score of 15 points.

On Tuesday evening, Cape Verde stunned 11-time African champions Angola 77-71 in in over time in a Group “A” game with scores of 14-14, 12-20, 23-21, 17-11 and overtime 11-5.

After a 14-14 tie in the first quarter, Angola changed tack and piled pressure on their athletic opponents, opening an eight-point lead at half-time.

In the third quarter, Cape Verde’s Walter Tavares tried to make redemption shots for his team but the seasoned Angolans stood their ground and maintained an eight-point lead.Angola hoped to race ahead in the final quarter, but Cape Verde’s Walter Tavares had a different plan.

Tavares, who plays for Real Madrid, had 18 rebounds, six blocks, one assist and three steals to score 20 points for his team. But Angola’s Carlos Almeida emerged the match ‘s top scorer with 21 points.

There was drama a minute before the final buzzer when Almeida shattered the backboard with one of his dunks, halting the match for close to half an hour.

Earlier, hosts Rwanda pulled a surprise against the Democratic Republic of Congo after handing them a 82-68 (24-15, 19-19, 14-21 and 25-13).

Playing on home soil before  their President Paul Kagame and hundreds of spectators, Rwanda rose to the occasion and dispatched their opponents.

Having qualified by virtue of being the host nation, some basketball commentators had underrated Rwanda’s potential of making an impact at the championships.  Going by the team’s performance in their first game, that assumption could be wrong.

They started the match with impressive and confident shots from the seasoned shooting guard Kenny Gasana and the game’s playmaker William Robeyns pulling away with a nine-point lead in the first quarter.
The lead remained the same and by half-time , Rwanda were ahead 43-34.

In the fourth quarter, DR Congo scaled up pressure at the disintegrating and tired hosts for a 57-56 score.

Good coordination between Robeyns, Gasana and Ntore Habimana in the last quarter went down well as they deconstructed DR Congo’s game plan to clinch victory.

In Group “B”,  reigning champions Tunisia rained baskets against Guinea to register a 84-46 win.

Tunisia, who won the AfroBasket crown in 2017, are returning at the showpiece with determination of winning the title back-to-back.

Africa’s sixth ranked nation, Egypt, comfortably bagged their first win of the tournament when they floored Central African Republic 72-56 (13-9,  20-16, 17-18,  22-13).

Standing at 1.85m, Egypt’s guard Ehab Saleh played a prolific game. He scored 21 points with six steals and one rebound.