PRETORIA (South Africa) - Mali are returning for a third FIBA U18 AfroBasket final after beating Senegal 68-60 in an epic Semi-Final battle at the University of Pretoria.
The Malians will face Cameroon, a team they beat in the group stages and they have also qualified for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2025 to be held in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Amadou Traore, who scored nine and crashed 12 boards was at a loss for words after the game.
"I am very happy. I want to congratulate the players and coaches for this moment. I don't have more words to express how I feel right now," said Traore.
Mali's Sekou Bagayoko's 24 points, six of which came from behind the arc, led the game in scoring. While Youssouf Traore notched a double-double (12 points and 18 rebounds), and captain Ibrahim Doumbia scored 17.
Cheikh Biteye led Senegal in scoring with 16 points, while Tidiane D'Almeida and Kara Sene scored 11 each.
Mali and Senegal met for the second time, and it promised to be a tighter affair than the opening encounter in the group stages.
While Mali won the group match in Friday night's Semi-Final, they met a more determined Senegal team.
After leading the first quarter by a point (16-15), Senegal seized the momentum four minutes into the second quarter. Four points by Code Mbengue set the tone for the Senegalese. Biteye's five points and a three by Mane N'Faba completed a 12-0 run for Senegal, leading 28-17.
Mane and Biteye combined for five points for a 33-20 lead for Senegal, but Doumbia would reduce the lead to 10 with a three-pointer. Senegal added 11 points to the eight of Mali and went into the first half 44-31 up.
Mali ate into Senegal's lead with 6:58 minutes gone - three-pointers by Bagayoko and, in between, buckets from Youssouf Traore and Adama Traore cut the lead to six (47-41).
After a Biteye free throw and Kara Sene's three-pointer increased the lead by 10 (51-41), a more galvanised Mali turned up with three minutes left. A 14-point scoring spree by Bagayoko, which included four triples and a bucket, completed the comeback for Mali, who went into the final quarter with a 55-51 lead.
Youssouf Traore added three more points to Mali's tally, but point guard D'Almeida's floater in the paint stemmed the tide for Senegal.
Two and half minutes remained, and five points separated both teams, but Mbengue's fastbreak dunk reduced the margin to three (60-57).
Both teams traded buckets with a 1:48 to play. First, a Doumbia floater increased the lead for Mali (62-57), but El Hadji Diahame's three cut the lead by three.
But the night would belong to Mali, who maintained their calm with under a minute to play and scored eight points.
FIBA