FIBA Africa Championship Roundup Day 1: Mozambique and Nigeria win (Part-1)
Mozambique 77 - Madagascar 67
The hosts of the 2011 FIBA Africa Championship, Madagascar faced a 77-67 defeat on their first outing against Mozambique in the preliminary round day 1 of the tournament. Mozambique dominated the proceedings right from the tip
off and didn’t let the opposition to gain any sort of momentum in a group A matchup.
Despite Romule Razafimahasahy’s game-high 18 points, which included two blows from beyond the arc, Madagascar failed to impress in front of their home crowd.
On the other hand Stelio Nuaila was the highlight of the night who powered the visiting team from both the ends of the court. Nuaila finished off with a magnificent double-double by scoring 15 points and gathering 13 rebounds in
36 minutes of playing time. Fernando Mandlate, Sylvio Letela and David Canivete joined forces with Stelio and landed double figures to power Mozambique to a brilliant victory.
The visiting team headed out dominantly in the first quarter and secured a comprehensive 18-12 lead from where they never trailed throughout the game. Mozambique continued to rip apart the opposition in the second quarter and amplified
the lead to 10 points as the game progressed into the second half.
The third quarter featured a tremendous fight back from the home team which brought some cheering moments for the home crowd. Madagascar picked up the slack right after halftime and managed to reduce the deficit by 5 points, finishing
the third quarter 54-49.However, their efforts went in vain when the visiting team retorted swiftly in the last quarter and outplayed Madagascar to seal a 10-point victory.
Nigeria 84 – Mali 59
In the second match-up between Group A foes on Wednesday, Nigerian team overcame a slow start and triggered an unyielding offensive assault and romped to a 84-59 win over Mali.
The top scorer of the night was Mohamed Tangara. The Mali forward ended the night with 17 points however his efforts proved insufficient against a balanced attack for Nigeria.
Four players from Nigeria landed double-figures which hampered the opposition to maintain control after they had prevailed in the first quarter. Derrick Obasohan led Nigeria with team-high 15 points and 4 rebounds.
The game started on a high note for Mali, who managed to gain 22-20 advantage with the end of the first quarter. However the Nigerians absolutely changed the course of the game in the second quarter by restricting the opposition
to 5 points and gained a huge 38-27 lead going into the halftime.
Despite of wrapping up a comprehensive 11 points advantage, the Nigerian team showed no sign of retreat in the second half and smashed Mali with a 46-point blitz in the last two quarters to seal a brilliant 84-59 win.
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