Cape Verde Dumps out Regaining AfroBasket Champions Tunisia with a Blowout Victory

Cape Verde Dumps out Regaining AfroBasket Champions Tunisia with a Blowout Victory

Any momentum from a final group-stage win over Madagascar vanished instantly. Cape Verde dismantled Tunisia from the opening tip, exposing the flaws that had plagued the title-holders throughout a shaky campaign in Luanda, as the loss today was their third in four games.

The collective effort was key for the Blue Sharks on the night as Jawhar Jawadi finished with a game high 19 points and three rebounds but ended up on a losing note as the performance wasn't enough to take the Carthage Eagles past the Blue Sharks who had the trio of  Keven Gomes, Anderson Correia, Joel Almeida to appreciate in a collective team effort. Gomes finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, Correia finished with 14 points and four rebounds, and Almeida recorded four rebounds and also finished with 14 points.

Betinho Gomes started the game brightly with a brilliant shot to make it 2-0 as the Islanders went on a run early on in the game, but Tunisia fought back through Jawadi's efforts to close a very tight first quarter at 15-13. The second quarter also saw the defending champions going on a short run as well to make the competition stiffer as we approached halftime in Luanda, with the game eventually heading into a 33-26 break.

The game took a whole different turn in the second half as the bench came to the party for the Islanders, who made the game quite irredeemable when they recorded a 27-12 victory in the third quarter and opened a 22-point lead with the scores at 60-38. By then, the Tunisians' fightback into the game was no longer feasible as another blowout in the final quarter sealed a 33-point loss with the final score closing out at 87-54.

Cape Verde’s bench were the most significant contributors as they outscored their Tunisian counterparts by an almost unbelievable 51-13 margin. At the same time, they also improved on their shooting later in the game, having missed all eleven of the three-point attempts made in the first half, but were much better in the second half as they finished with a 7-for-22 from beyond the arc.

Tunisian coach Mehdi Mary shared his thoughts on the game afterwards.

“We played a great team and we didn't have a great night at the same moment. We spent a lot of energy in the last game against Madagascar. Congrats to them.The way they played, put us in trouble.

They made a lot of outside shots and missed a lot of outside shots early in the game but they made it in the second half. We're going to learn from this. The physicality they put in the game early in the second half stopped us from playing the way we wanted to play.”

Edy Tavares of the winning side,

“It was all about defence. We're trying to play defence hard and then play good basketball on the offence. That third quarter 18-0 run that you guys went on to close out the third quarter was amazing. Because we've got a good chemistry.

We're like a family. We're like brothers. We're always together. Several teams have identities. Nigeria has a defensive identity. Egypt has a very organised half-court identity. What do you believe Cape Verde's identity to be? I think we play good basketball. We play smart basketball and it's good defense.”

Cape Verde progressed to play the home side Angola in the quarterfinals and Taveres said that they love the fixture. 

“Our game against Angola is always a good game. Because we always play against Angola and we will try to get a win to be in the semi-finals.”

[Photography Courtesy of FIBA]