FIBA World Cup Qualifiers (Africa) | Group A
Friday, November 26
- Cape Verde 79-71 Nigeria
- Mali 76-66 Uganda
Saturday, November 27 | EAT
- Nigeria Vs Mali – 4:00pm
- Uganda Vs Cape Verde – 10:00pm
Uganda opened its FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 qualfying campaign with a 76-66 loss to Mali on Friday night.
The Silverbacks played the game with silppery hands right from tip-off and Mali, despite not shooting well, punished the mistakes.
Mali controlled the opening quarter as the Ugandans turned over the ball 8 times. A 17-9 lead after the opening ten minutes set the West African on the path to victory.
Silverbacks played catch up through out the game with flashes of brilliant stretches but Mali always made the big shots outside the arc.
In the second quarter, Uganda played a little better on the offensive end, cutting the deficit to just two points multiple times but Benke Diarouma made sure Mali had a six-point lead at the half.
Mali pulled away into a double digit lead late in the third quarter and never looked back with Uganda struggling to close the deficit.
Brandon Davis returned to the team after two years with a game high 24 points to go with 16 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks.
Titus Lual Odeke contributed 12 points and pulled down 5 rebounds while, Eric Rwahwire scored 11 points to go with 5 boards.
Ibrahim Djambo led Mali’s team effort with team high 19 points with the rest of the players scoring in single digits.
Are we out of these fiba world cup qualifiers or we still have matches to play