MAR - Morocco in Abidjan "to win games"

ABIDJAN (AfroBasket/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Although Morocco have been one of the most regular teams in AfroBasket competition, they last won their only continental title 48 years ago.

Despite some humble performances in recent AfroBasket appearances, they showed quality and resilience that indicates they may cause some upsets along the way.

Morocco started their AfroBasket 2013 campaign with an enormous message on Wednesday by pushing defending champions Tunisia until the very end, only to come up short of a mighty upset with a 56-54 loss.

They came back transformed two days later to demolish Rwanda 87-57 thanks to an outstanding performance by Abdelhakim Zouita who had team-high 21 points.

On Friday, Morocco's game was of such team effort that they registered a tournament-high 22 assists against Rwanda's eight.

The top three teams at the tournament in Abidjan qualify for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

While Morocco have never participated in a world stage tournament to date, they should not be writ off from contention.

Team captain Younes Idrissi explained to FIBA.com the team's mindset in the tournament.

"We are a new team with some injured players who could not come and we had no much time of preparation,” he said.

"We were devastated by the loss against Tunisia, we decided we had to step up our game.

"Despite all the setbacks within the team, we did not come here just to walk around. Our message is we are here to win games."

And practising during Ramadan was not the only damage to the team. Idrissi says that while in Abidjan he became sick for three days due to food intoxication.

"I don't think my body adjusted well to the local food as I was sick for three days," he revealed.

Just like his players, Morocco head coach, Hassan Hachad insists they are in Abidjan to "go as far as we can. This is a very tough competition, and we are ready to compete."

On Sunday, Morocco will take on Burkina Faso in the final game of Group B.

For full and in-depth coverage of AfroBasket 2013, go to the official website http://abidjan2013.fibaafrica.com/.

FIBA