Saturday

Group A Rwanda 74-82 Cape Verde Angola 73-58 DR Congo 

Group B Egypt 78-86 Guinea   

The national basketball team on Saturday, August 28 lost its last group stage game 74-82 to Cape Verde in the ongoing Afrobasket tournament.

The loss means that Rwanda finished second place in its Group (A), and will thus not directly qualify for the quarter-finals, but rather, will have to go for a playoff match to seek the ticket.

According to the tournament's format, the leading team in each of the 4 groups automatically advances to the quarterfinals, while the second and third-placed teams have to go for playoffs to vie for the remaining slots.

The match against Cape Verde was a difficult one for Rwanda, specifically in its early stages where Rwanda trailed by big margins.

Cape Verde won the first quarter 29-14, and the second one 17-12 to go into halftime with a 46-26 lead.

In the second half, Cape Verde went on to claim the third quarter 22-17, but Rwanda put up a late fight to win the last quarter 31-14.

Rwanda's Emile Galois Kazeneza scored a high 18 points, Axel Mpoyo and William Robeyns added 13 and 10 points.