Guinea responded to its opening-round setback against South Sudan with authority, defeating Cape Verde 81-59 in Radès to revive its World Cup qualification hopes and underline its determination to remain in contention.
Last Updated on
August 29, 2026
Guinea bounced back convincingly on Day 2 of the second round of the African World Cup Qualifiers, defeating Cape Verde 81-59 at the Salle multidisciplinaire de Radès in Tunisia to put its qualification campaign back on track.
Both teams entered the game looking to recover from disappointing starts to the second round. Guinea had lost to South Sudan on Day 1, while Cape Verde had fallen to Tunisia.
There was little room for another setback.
Guinea made that urgency clear from the opening minutes, taking a 23-16 lead after the first quarter and immediately putting Cape Verde on the back foot.
The second quarter only reinforced Guinea's control.
With 2:25 remaining before halftime, Guinea had extended its advantage to 11 points at 41-30. The most encouraging sign for Guinea was that the scoring burden was being shared. Every Guinean player had already scored at least two points, while Souleyman Boum Jr. was leading the way with nine.
Then Shannon Evans added another blow.
The guard connected from behind the arc to push Guinea further ahead at 46-32. Cape Verde needed an answer, and Ivan Almeida continued to provide one almost single-handedly.
Already at 15 points, Almeida scored again to reach 17 by halftime, responding to Evans' three-pointer and keeping Cape Verde within sight.
But Guinea had done enough damage.
The halftime score was 46-32, giving the Guineans a sizeable cushion and, more importantly, control of the game.
Cape Verde needed a strong third-quarter response. Instead, Guinea stayed composed.
The third quarter was tightly contested, with Guinea winning it 17-16. That meant Cape Verde had failed to make any meaningful dent in the deficit, and the pressure continued to mount.
Guinea then delivered the decisive blow in the fourth.
The Guineans outscored Cape Verde 18-11 in the final period to turn what had been a competitive matchup into a convincing victory.
Boum Jr. finished as Guinea's leading scorer with 16 points, while Tidjan Keita and Sekou Doumbouya each added 11. Evans finished with 10 points, three rebounds and three assists.
For Cape Verde, Almeida produced a game-high 23 points, but his individual brilliance was not enough to keep his team afloat. Marcus Santos Silva added 13 points and 11 rebounds.
The battle on the boards offered another indication of Guinea's collective effort. Guinea grabbed 42 rebounds compared with Cape Verde's 39 and also registered 18 assists and 10 steals.
Cape Verde had 15 assists and 10 steals.
The difference, however, was not simply found in the box score.
Guinea played with the kind of collective purpose that had been missing in its opening game of the second round. After being beaten by South Sudan on Day 1, the Guineans responded by sharing the scoring, controlling the tempo and building an advantage that Cape Verde could never seriously threaten.
For Cape Verde, Almeida kept producing, but the team needed more around him.
For Guinea, the response could hardly have been clearer.
A loss on Day 1 had put pressure on the team. A second defeat would have made the road to the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup considerably steeper.
Instead, Guinea got its first win of the second round and kept itself firmly in contention for one of Africa's five tickets to the World Cup.
The message from Radès was simple: Guinea may have stumbled at the start of the second round, but it is not going away.
[Photography/Imagery : Courtesy of FIBA]
