Ivory Coast and Tunisia earned spot for Turkey 2010 alongside Champions Angola

The 2009 FIBA Africa Championship was held in Libya, once again providing plenty of high-quality basketball, coupled with some great entertainment. Angola captured their sixth consecutive title, brining their tally to an impressive ten.

Angola qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey together with the Ivory Coast and Tunisia.

After two group stages, the field of 16 was cut down to the eight quarter-finalists.

In the top half of the draw, Angola dispatched the Central African Republic with ease 84-63, while Tunisia scraped past Mali 74-73, whose Amara Sy missed a free-throw in the dying seconds, that would have brought the game into overtime.

The bottom half of the draw saw Cameroon knock-out neighbours Nigeria 84-80, while Ivory Coast put on a solid fourth quarter performance to dispatch Senegal.

The first semi-final resulted in Angola qualifying for yet another final, with a convincing win over Tunisia 79-69. Outscoring their opponents in quarters one (16-13), two (19-16) and three (21-17), Angola were in control all night, although the Tunisians did manage to get a share of the fourth (24-24).

Tournament MVP Joaquim Gomes had another good game, scoring 18 and grabbing 7 rebounds, against a Tunisia team whose Amine Rzig grabbed a game-high of 19 points, totalling 6 rebounds.

The second semi-final proved to be fascinating. The end of the first period saw Cameroon narrowly ahead (13-11), but Ivory Coast outscored Cameroon two to one in an impressive second quarter (20-10) putting Ivory Coast eight points ahead at the halfway mark.

Fortunes reversed in the third with Cameroon taking it by 9 (24-15), setting up a one point lead (47-46), leaving the game delicately balanced as the final ten got underway.

However, the last quarter belonged to the Ivory Coast who, with a great team performance, outplayed their opposition (22-14) to win the game 68-61, booking their place alongside Angola in the final.

The stakes were high in bronze medal game, as the winner would book a place for the World Championship. In a one-sided game, Tunisia completely dominated Cameroon, cruising to an 83-63 win and that all important ticket to Turkey, where they will make their first ever World Championship appearance.

In the final, Ivory Coast, gave the Angolans a tough battle. After finishing the first quarter with a 19-15 lead, the teams went to the locker room with the slightest of advantages for Ivory Coast (35-34).

Angola took charge in the third quarter without ever really being able to pull away. The lead changed a total of sixteen times, and the score was tied no less than six times during the game.

But in the end, Angola’s experience, resulting from a team that has barely changed over the previous four years, made all the difference.

Pape Amagou led the way for Ivory Coast with 18 points. Leading scorers for Angola were Carlos Morais with 21 points, whilst Joaquim Gomes and Olimpio Cipriano added 16 points each.


Final standings:

1. Angola
2. Ivory Coast
3. Tunisia
4. Cameroon
5. Nigeria
6. Central African Rep
7. Senegal
8. Mali
9. Rwanda
10. Egypt
11. Libya
12. Morocco
13. Cape Verde
14. Mozambique
15. South Africa
16. Republic of the Congo

Official event website:
libya2009.fiba.com