FIBA Africa Championship Roundup Day 1: Ivory Coast and Cameroon win (Part-2)
Ivory Coast 105 – South Africa 53
The runner-ups from the 2009 campaign, Ivory Coast opened the 2011 FIBA Africa championship with a colossal victory on Wednesday night in a Group C opener against the South Africans. Ivory Coast annihilated the rainbow nation in
a lop-sided battle and romped to a thrashing 105-53 win.
Shooting guard Guy Edi, who also plays small forward, was the star performer of the night. Edi netted a game-high 19 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in just 19 minutes of playing time. He was supported by Mamadi Diane and Dider
Tape, who finished off with 17 and 14 points respectively.
From the South African team, reserve player Masego Loate was the only player who landed double figure on the night. Loate ended the game with 10 points and 2 rebounds.
Ivory Coast fired on all cylinders from the start and wrapped up double figure lead in the first quarter, finishing the frame with a comprehensive 27-8 advantage. Ivory Coast’s offensive assault caught more pace in the second quarter
as they smashed the opposition with 33 points and procured a huge 60-18 lead at the interval.
Despite of confirming their victory going into the half time, Ivory Coast continued their domination in the last two quarters as well and added 45 more points to snatch a 52 point victory.
Cameroon 96 – Egypt 81
On Wednesday night, in the second matchup in Group C, Cameroon overpowered five-time African Cup champion Egypt 96-81.
The consensus highly supported the Egyptian team before the game started however Cameroon overcame all expectations and in doing so gave an early warning to all the contenders in the tournament.
Parfait Bitee had an outstanding night. The Cameroon forward hammered game-high 29 points and dished out 7 assists to put his team on the frontline. Cyrille Makanda also contributed 16 points in the victory. Egypt was lead by Rami
Ibrahim and Amro Sherif, who netted 13 points apiece.
Cameroon headed out in a grand style against the defending champions and by the time, the teams headed for the locker room after half time, they had established a 52-35 lead. The Egyptian team however retaliated in the third quarter
and managed to reduce the deficit to four points.
However Cameroon hung tough in the final quarter, winning it by a margin of 20-18 to clinch an important victory in their first game of the tournament.
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