Alexandre Mayzer scored 14 points to lead African basketball powerhouse Angola for a hard-fought victory over Mali at the 9th All Africa Games on Tuesday.
Angola, eight times gold medal winner in African Basketball Championships, edged Mali 71-64 in its last group match. Mali had three wins from five matches to finish second in the pool.
With the win, Angola, which had already secured a place in the quarterfinals, finished first in the group.
Mayzer also had two rebounds in the match. His teammate Albano Fernando contributed 13 points for the win.
Angola this time sent its second-string squad to the All Africa Games, with its national team taking part in a training tour in Europe.
The Angolans met a strong challenge from their Mali opponents. After trailing the first half at 33-41, Malian players found back their form in the third period and led the game into the last period at 56-54.
However, the Malians did not keep the pace and lost the match in the final minutes.
Niakate Modibo had 14 points for the losers. Sami Tahirou, who had seven rebounds, added 10 points for Mali.
In other two matches of the group, Democratic Republic of Congo beat Liberia 93-66 and Nigeria, who had four wins from five matches, defeated Cameroon 81-61.
After five days of group preliminaries, Angola was joined by Mali, Nigeria and Cameroon in the top eight from the group.
While in Group A, South Africa, which defeated Tunisia 82-66 on Tuesday, advanced into the quarterfinals with Egypt, Cote D'ivoire and Algeria.
The men's quarterfinals will be held on Thursday.
Source: Xinhua
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