Amin shines, as Egypt pick up first World Cup win since 1994

MANILA (Philippines) - Back on August 12, 1994, Egypt were standing tall in Hamilton, Canada, defeating Cuba 69-54. Now, 29 years later, they tasted victory again, versus Mexico in the Mall of Asia Arena, 100-72.

Their first win could potentially help Egypt's chances of reaching the Olympics, as one ticket for the summit will be available for the best African team at this tournament. As of Tuesday afternoon, all five African teams have one win.

 

Turning point: Tip-off. Mexico did not show up for this game, allowing Egypt to pour in 30 points in the first quarter alone, and the gap grew all the way to +28 at one point in the first half, and then again in the closing seconds of the second half.

Everything was going wrong for Mexico; everything was picture perfect for Egypt.

TCL Player of the Game: Ehab Amin is playing his heart out at this FIBA Basketball World Cup, he had 10 points against Lithuania, backed it up with 26 against Montenegro, and now flirted with a triple-double against Mexico.

The 28-year-old guard collected 22 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds, leading five men in double digits for coach Roy Rana.

Stats don't lie: Every single stat was on Egypt's side, but the biggest surprise were the bench points. Led by their Egyptian New Yorker Patrick Gardner with 20 points, Egypt won the second unit battle 31-8.

Bottom line: Both teams are moving to the Classification Games 17-32. They are still very much interested in their final ranking, as Egypt could potentially be the best ranked African team to reach aching the Olympics, while Mexico will most have to battle for a spot at the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.

Joshua Ibarra and Pako Cruz had 21 points apiece for coach Omar Quintero.

They said:"Really proud of my team and the coaching staff for getting a win, feels really good. We've worked really hard since we started this summer, and I just got there, so it feels good to finally have some hard work pay off through the score." - Patrick Gardner, Egypt

"We'll always have the side of our eye looking at what everybody else is doing. Some of it is because of the Olympics, but some of it just for the African pride. We see what's happening, for all five teams from Africa to get a win at the World Cup is a statement about African basketball. It's just getting better and better. People don't realize how difficult it was for us to even qualify to be here. On one hand there's a lot of pride that the continent continues to rise as a basketball region, and then of course, yes, we'll keep an eye at what's going on and focus on the next opponent." - Roy Rana, Egypt head coach

"We're not playing with heart and pride right now. More than basketball, it's just about that." - Pako Cruz, Mexico

"We're not playing hard, and we have to change the way we're playing because we lost three, but we still have two games to go." - Omar Quintero, Mexico head coach

FIBA