Rwanda suffers heavy defeat to Morocco

YesterdayGroup BMorocco 87-57 RwandaTunisia 100-45 Burkina FasoTodayGroup CMozambique vs Cape VerdeAngola vs CARGroup ASenegal vs AlgeriaCote d’Ivoire vs EgyptRwanda men’s basketball team lost to Morocco 87-57 in their second Group B match at the on-going Fiba Afrobasket Championships played yesterday at Palaise de Sport Treichvile Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.Morocco surged into a 30-10 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. They won the second quarter 20-15 and held a 25-point advantage at the halftime.Rwanda managed to win the third quarter 20-16, but could do little in the fourth quarter as Morocco took it 21-12.Abdelhakim Zouita was the top scorer for the North African side with 21 points and Abderrahim Najah added 20. El Masbahi Zakaria delivered 12, while Mustapha Khalfi, Reda Rhalimi and Younes Idrissi added 8 points each.Rwanda’s Kenny Gasana scored a game high 22 points and Bradley Cameron added 15 points for Moize Mutokambali’s team. Team captain Aristide Mugabe only managed a miserable 6 points as Rwanda failed to repeat their heroics from the first game against Burkina Faso.It was Rwanda’s third successive defeat against Morocco at the Fiba Afrobasket championships following defeats in 2007 and 2009.In the second game, defending champions Tunisia routed debutants Burkina Faso 100-45 to put one foot in the second round.They won all four quarters 28-14; 28-10; 18-13; 26-8 to put the North African side into pole position to reach the knock-out stage.Ben Romdhane was the top scorer for Tunisia with 23 points, while El Mabrouk chipped in with 16 points.Tunisia leads Group B standings with four points followed by Rwanda and Morocco, who are tied on three points, while Burkina Faso is bottom of the table with two points.Action in Group B resumes on Sunday when Rwanda take on Tunisia as Morocco faces Burkina Faso.

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Rwanda suffers heavy defeat to Morocco