The 2009 African Basketball Championships kicked off in Libya today with no big surprises but a test for perennial African favourites Angola from their Malian counterparts.
Mali played Angola as well as possible with Amara Sy and Ludovic Chele putting in 19 and 16 points respectively to help Mali tie things up at the end of the third quarter but Angola pulled out the win in the 4th quarter with a big effort from Center Gomes Joaquim who ended up with 31 points and 5 rebounds to give the Angolans a 79-74 win in the opening round of Group B action.
In other Group B action, five time champions Egypt dispatched of Mozambique with the ease of a contender as the Pharoahs dominated on the boards en route to a 72-62 win.
In Group C, Cameroon got 19 points from Gaston Essengué to help pull out a 79-69 win over the Central African Republic. The other Group C game saw Senegal blow out the Peoples Republic of Congo 95-68 with a 26 point performance from Boniface Ndong and a balanced game from point guard Babacar Cisse who ended up with 5pts 10 rbds and 10 asts.
Group D saw Cape Verde beat Tunisia 71-52 behind a strong 20 point effort from former Providence Friar Jeff Xavier.
In Group A, Nigeria started their tournament with a tough game against Cote d'Ivoire.
D'Tigers came out the blocks and led for the first three quarters before a fourth quarter run by the Ivoriens cut an 18 point lead by Nigeria down to 5 points. A double double by Ayodeji Akindele with 12 points and 10 boards as well as a 29 point 4 assist, 4 rebound, 4 steal game by Michael Efevberha gave D'Tigers a 93-84 win.
The teams head back to the courts tomorrow for more action.
Group A -South Africa vs Nigeria
Group A -Cote d'Ivoire vs Libya
Group B -Mali vs Mozambique
Group B -Egypt vs Angola
Group C -Central African Republic vs Senegal
Group C -People's Republic of Congo vs Cameroon
Group D -Rwanda vs Cape Verde
Group D -Tunisia vs Morocco
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