Rwanda U16 boys on Friday, July 21, beat Morocco 77-76, a narrow result that saw them move closer to a top 5 finish at the FIBA U16 African Championship.
After losing their quarter final duel at the hands of Egypt on Thursday night, Rwanda’s bid for the trophy was halted, and the team settled for classification games.
The team will play its final classification game against Cote d’Ivoire on Sunday, July 23, and a win will see them finish in the fifth position out of the 10 teams that participated.
The Morocco game was a tightly-contested one, with Rwanda losing the first quarter 18-24 before bounced back to win the second quarter 15-9 to go into the half time break level on 33-33.
In the second half, Morocco continued to pile pressure on Rwanda and won the third quarter 20-19.
Rwandan players including Plamedie Bizimana Kayira, Joseph Nshimiye and Sean Williams Mwesigwa put up a proper response as they fought back to win the last quarter with 25-23.
Rwandan point guard, Joseph Nshimiye scored a game high 17 points while center Plamedie Bizimana Kayira added 15 points.
After the result, team head coach Patrick Habiyaremye told Times Sport eyes are now on beating Côte d’Ivoire to finish in the top five.
“We are very happy that we managed to win this game against Morocco, it was not easy but the boys did everything possible and we got the victory, thank you in general but we still have work to do on Sunday and we want to win this game,” Habiyambere said.
Meanwhile, Rwanda’s U16 girls’ basketball team finished 7th at the girls’ championship after beating Guinea 54-43 on Friday. The tournament attracted eight countries.