RABAT (Morocco) - Knowing that an early strong start would eventually pay off, Cameroon overcame Gabon 82-67 in the Moroccan city of Rabat on Thursday improve their record to 3-1 and qualify for the 2025 AfroBasket.
The win made Cameroon the first team from Group C to qualify for the 2025 African Championship, which will be held in Angola in August.
Five Cameroonians - led by Jeremiah Hill - scored 10 points or more each, while Chris Silva was a one-man show for Gabon, finishing with a game-high of 34 points.
Silva completed his debut with the Gabonese team, adding 14 rebounds although he was forced to turn the ball over a shocking 13 times.
Trying to revive their AfroBasket Qualifiers campaign after going 0-3 in the second window of the tournament last November, Gabon arrived in Rabat with a new coach, eight new players and a small crowd of Gabonese residents in the kingdom, but beating Cameroon turned out to be mission impossible.
TURNING POINT: Ateba hit two consecutive three-pointers to give Cameroon an early 6-1 lead, and although Gabon went on an 8-0 run, indicating signs of a comeback, it was only a matter of time before the Indomitable Lions went on a scoring spree and led 42-27 at the break.
The Cameroonians led by as many as 18 points in the second quarter.
And the question at that point was whether Gabon would be able to fight back in the remaining two quarters to revive their chances at the tournament.
The answer came right at the start of the quarter as Cameroon's aggressive defence stifled any chance of a comeback.
Making his debut with Gabon senior team, former NBA player Silva provided a spark at both ends of the floor and led all players in scoring with 17 points at the break, but he lacked support as no other Gabonese added more than 5 points apiece.
HEROES: Ateba's three-point shooting prowess is out of this world, and he was one of the reason Gabon struggled to contend. In fact, Gabon looked helpless to try and contain Ateba, who shot 5-for-7 from behind the arc to finish with 16 points.
STATS DON'T LIE: Cameroon's 15-0 run in the second quarter proved too much for Gabon and, to make matters worse for Johd Masnoudji's side, they turned the ball over 21 times and made just 25 of their 43 free-throw attempts.
FIBA