Roll rescues Tunisia, historic day for Rwanda on Day 3 of AfroBasket 2021

 

KIGALI (Rwanda) - There have been moments of tension, exhilaration, euphoria and high-quality games on Day 3 of the FIBA AfroBasket 2021 in Kigali, Rwanda.

Exciting games, not a single blowout, but at the end of Thursday's four games, reigning African Tunisian and hosts Rwanda not only remained undefeated in two games each, but they have also moved closer to the Quarter-Finals.

 

The winners of the four groups qualify automatically to the Last Eight, while the teams that finish second and third, respectively, will enter a play-off to complete the Quarter-Finals line-up.

With that in mind, Egypt stepped on the court determined to beat Tunisia for the second straight time since the FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers 2019 in Luanda, and, in the process, boost their chances in the tournament. 

At some point in the highly-anticipated Group B clash between two Africa heavyweights, Egypt led by as many as 19 points, however, Tunisia shooting guard Michael Roll wasn't prepared for a imminent humiliation.

Roll came up a sequence of incredible plays to finish with a game-high 25 points as Tunisia prevailed 87-81. 

Egypt's guard Ahmed Metwaly 'Doola' was a constant threat, sinking two of his four three-point attempts to finish with 13 points; fearless Ehab Saleh Amin - as always - came off the bench with his energetic defense and ferocity attacking the basket to finish with a team-high 17 points, but Tunisia never panicked, responding with an admirable intelligence to close out the game 

In Group B's early game, Guinea did everything they possibly could to win their first-ever AfroBasket game since 1982, but former African champions Central African Republic (CAF) were on a mission, winning 61-60 in a thriller.

With the win, CAF improved to 1-1, while Guinea dropped to 0-2 ahead of their clash against Egypt on Saturday.

In Group A's first game of the day, the Democratic Republic of Congo bounced back from a 82-68 defeat to Rwanda on Tuesday to keep their AfroBasket 2021 aspirations very much alive after beating Cape Verde 70-66.

Even though Cape Verde enjoyed an early lead and out-rebounded their opponents 46-36, the Congolese fought as if there was no tomorrow.

Henry Pwono (DR Congo)

DR Congo's Henry Pwono was 5-for-9 from the field to finish with a game-best 19 points and nine rebounds. He was so dominant in the paint, that earned ten trips to the charity stripe where he converted all but one of his free-throws. 

Maxi Munanga Shamba and  Patrick Kazumba Mwamba played supporting cast roles, contributing 12 points each to help their team improve to 1-1.

Unlike their win against Angola, Cape Verde's trio Walter Tavares, Ivan Almeida and Jeff Xavier weren't as energetic. 

Tavares, Almeida and Xavier combined for 39 points - more than half of Cape Verde's 66 points. 

Joel Almeida finished with a team-high 18 points off the bench, but rotation [or lack of it] and an unproductive bench  added only seven more points.

Meanwhile, host Rwanda secured a historic win in front of their homes by beating former African champions Angola 71-68 to maintain a hundred percent record while Angola dropped to 0-2.

FIBA