Afrobasket: Angola Struggles to Stop Uganda

The Uganda Basketball team, Silverbacks have lost to 11-time African Champions Angola in a hotly contested Afro basketball champions in Dakar Senegal.

 

In the game played at the Marius Ndiaye Stadium, Friday night, Uganda took a comfortable lead in the first quarter winning Angola 22-10 before closing the second quarter with a 44-29 Win.

 

In the third quarter, however, the Angolans fought back to minimise the gap 63-56.

 

The teams were neck and neck in the last quarter of the game, with Uganda taking a slim lead of 74-73 before the Angolans called for a time out.

 

By the end of the fourth quarter, Uganda and Angola tied 84-84 leading to an overtime of play.

 

In the last five minutes of the game, however, the Angolans returned with much determination to win the game 94-89.

 

Uganda's Robinson Opong made a game high 23 points while Angola's Carlos Morais made 21 points.

 

Uganda now faces Central African Republic (CAR) today, before it can face Morocco on Sunday. Uganda must now beat both teams to advance to the quarter finals of the championships.

 

The SilverBacks made it to the Afro basketball finals after emerging the second in 72-79 loss to Egypt at Zone V finals held in Cairo in March this year.

 

This is their second appearance in the championship after finishing 15th in 2015 winning only one game and losing four.

 

In the other games of Group B, Morocco beat CAR 76-66. In Group A, Nigeria struggled to beat Ivory Coast 78-77 while in Group C Tunisia stopped Cameroon 68-5 and in Group D Senegal beat Rwanda 83-44.

 

The best two teams in the group qualify for quarter finals. The tournament serves as the qualifier for Federation of International Basketball Association (FIBA) World Cup and summer Olympic Games.