SEN/MAR - Senegal stun Morocco with comeback

ANTANANARIVO (2011 African Championship) - Rated as an African powerhouse, Senegal needed extra inspiration from Maleye Ndoye to beat Morocco 79-65 on Wednesday on Day 2 of the Afrobasket in Madagascar.

A day before of his 31st birthday, Ndoye had a game-high 23 points with Mouhammad Faye and Malick Badiane also providing plenty of inspiration.

Faye had 17 points and Badiane 14 in Group B's opening game.

Senegal, without a host of big-name players but still hopeful of winning the gold medal to qualify for the Olympics under French coach Alain Weisz, looked to be in real trouble when they trailed by 14 at half-time.

Morocco even extended their lead after the break but Senegal's defense reigned supreme in the third and fourth quarters.

The team used both full-court pressure and a box-and-one and Morocco were so out of sorts that they scored just 22 points after half-time.

Morocco's Abdelhakim Zouita had 19 points in the defeat.

In the second game of the Group B, defending champions Angola punished Chad with the heaviest defeat of the tournament so far, a 115-56 victory.

Carlos Morais hit four three-pointers and had a game-high with 25 points for the winners.

Angola ended up pouring in 39 points of their 115 from behind the arc.

Koibe Mickael of Chad poured in 11 points.

In the second game of the day, one name attracted the attention of everyone and that was James Mays of the Central African Republic.

Mays, a 2.08m North Carolina-born center, had 24 points and eight rebounds in just 23 minutes as CAF rolled to an 89-61 Group D victory over Rwanda.

CAF may not have their influential star Romain Sato of Panathinaikos in the squad, but Spanish coach Paco Garcia will be thrilled to have Mays in the fold.

He converted all of his 10 attempts in the paint.

For Rwanda, Robert Thompson had seven rebounds to go with his nine points but the Central African destroyed them on the boards, 55 to 30.

On Saturday, Senegal take on Angola, while Morocco play Chad in Group B while in Group D, Tunisia play Rwanda and Togo face Central Africa Republic.

Julio Chitunda
FIBA