Kenya cruise to maiden FIBA AfroCan 2019

KAMPALA (Uganda) - For many a basketball enthusiast in East Africa, Kenya were not exactly a Zone 5 title contender if the past three years were anything to go by in terms of pedigree.

At least not when Egypt had confirmed participation in the regional qualifiers and Rwanda alongside hosts Uganda who had been to the FIBA AfroBasket 2017 and competed in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers. 

It was a prediction gone wrong when Kenya turned up the heat handing hosts Uganda a 70-61 loss to stun the home crowd and set the qualification process into turmoil with Egypt seeing off Rwanda 68-59.

These two results set up a competitive tie the next day, a battle that Kenya dominated 97-79 orchestrated by head coach Cliff Owuor on a night to remember. 

Rwanda earned their first win of the tournament with a convincing 97-43 victory over neighbours Tanzania to improve their win ratio to 1-1. Kenya was at 2-0 and Egypt at 1-1 after match day two. 

Kenya's physical presence especially in the paint saw them make light work of Tanzania 112-74 to improve to 3-0 while Egypt bounced back to winning ways overcoming hosts Uganda 73-64 to record a 2-1 win ratio. 

Egypt won 97-61 against Tanzania to take their ratio to 3-1 while Rwanda stunned Kenya 85-66 to hand them their first loss of the round-robin tournament.

Both Egypt and Kenya had 3-1 win ratios but the latter had won the game between the two sides 97-79 and as per the head-to-head comparison, Kenya were named Zone 5 champions.

Uganda settled for third place with a 2-2 record while winless Tanzania finished fourth. 

Tyler Okari Obgwae of Kenya emerged as the Most Valuable Player of the tournament while the Highest Scorer was Tanzania's Baraka Anthumani who netted an incredible 90 points averaging 22.5 points per game. Brandon Davies from Uganda with 47 rebounds was the Best Rebounder. 

Zone 5 winners Kenya and Egypt, who got a wild card, have been confirmed for the inaugural FIBA AfroCan that has been organised for players based in Africa and will take place in Bamako, Mali from July 19-28. 

Other qualified teams include: hosts Mali, Cote d'Ivoire, Tunisia, Senegal, Nigeria, Guinea and Mozambique.

FIBA