Cameroon halts Tunisia's AfroBasket unbeaten streak in convincing win

A major upset was recorded in Group B as the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon caused a stir at the ongoing AfroBasket championship in Angola by beating the defending champions Tunisia in grand style, battering them 86-65 inside the Pavilhao Multiusos de Luanda.

The Cameroonians were bolstered by the brilliant performances of different players but Williams Narace's game-high 20 points stood him out as he set the tone for a brilliant outcome against a formidable side with loads of experience.

Cameroon's physicality on the court was obvious from the jump ball as they asserted their presence in the defense, dominated the defending champions in the paint and really showed their brilliance from the shooting range, most especially from beyond the arc as they edged the stat with 11 of 29 three points attempts as against Tunisia's 7 from 29 attempts.

The baseline three-pointers, the free throws which were forced off from fouls and the fast breaks ensured that Cameroon took the first quarter comfortably with a 28-18 lead. Getting points in the paint was proving to be a huge plus for the defending champions when they came out for the second quarter but the Cameroonians were still running the show with their three-point accuracy in the game.

The Tunisians rallied back in that quarter with Jawadi and Obada leading the charge with some quick three-point shots and registering points from the paint to close the gap but Cameroon were not ready to entertain any slip-ups as they closed out the second quarter by a deficit of just one point but headed into the break leading by 9 points (51-42).

The team who had shown some consistent signs before coming to Angola in the warmup games continued their effective style of play and just before heading into the break, the team’s points tally from three points attempt had seen them register 8 of 13 attempts. In the second half they ran out 21-17 winners in the third quarter where Jeremiah Hills was proving to be a handful for the North Africans alongside Yves Missi and Fabian Ateba.

The final quarter produced the lowest number of points as the Cameroonians won 14-6 to close out a strong win on opening night for teams in Group B. In the end, the free throws were well utilised by the Lions as they eventually made 22 of their 30 free throws. Asides the numbers for Williams, Hill eventually finished with 14 points and 5 rebounds with Ateba and Missi finishing with 12 points each.

Tunisia who saw their unbeaten AfroBasket streak halted by the loss in a bid to make it 14-0 was led in scoring by Jawhar Jawadi who finished with 16 points while his teammates, Mohamed Ochi closed out the game with 12 points and Omar Abada with 11 points.

Cameroon’s Yves Missi shared his thoughts on the game afterwards with AfricaBasket, 

“I mean, I know they're going to double in, so I was just trying to get my team in the open. So every time they doubled in, that means somebody is open. I just need to find a person who's open and pass them the ball.”

On Jeremiah Hill’s impact in the game, he had this to say.

“I mean, he's a great player, like you said. He grabs a lot of rebounds. We've got to help him out on the box side and get some rebounds as well. We gave a lot of offensive rebounds today, so that's what we need to fix for next game." 

Tunisia’s Jawhar Jawadi said afterwards that he enjoyed his game but they’ve got to shift attention to the next game as the loss was a tough one. 

“I felt good personally, but a loss is still a loss, so we need to come back better next time. We stopped playing defence, they scored some 3 points, they had an amazing night on the 3-point line. So, with our heads down, our hands down, we need to make more stops to come back from an 11-point lead which was tough for us. That's too bad for us and we need to come back stronger."

In the tenth AfroBasket meeting between Tunisia and Cameroon, the Indomitable Lions allowed the Carthage Eagles one-point lead while they led by as many as 22 points and their bench played a big role in the win with a massive contribution of 21 points.

Cameroon will return to action on Friday when they face Madagascar while Tunisia will lock horns with Nigeria.