FridayGroup AMali       vs Mozambique 3:45pmTunisia  vs Mauritius 6pmGroup BRwanda vs Egypt 11:15amAlgeria  vs Madagascar 1:30pmThursdayRwanda 39-61 AlgeriaMali 61-40 Tunisia

Rwanda’s U16 boys’ team got off to a poor start to the FIBA U16 African Championships taking place in Vacoas-Phoenix, Mauritius.

They lost their opening game against Group B rivals Algeria. Moise Mutokambali’s side were beaten 61-39 and will have another mountain to climb on Friday when they take on reigning champions Egypt in the second game.

Rwanda was below par both in offensive and defensively, which saw them lose the first quarter 2-20. In the second quarter, they tried to pull their way back but still lost 9-11 and Algeria ended the first half leading 31-11.

Rwanda recovered from their first half malaise and claimed the third quarter 15-12. However, they failed to maintain this momentum in the final quarter, which Algeria claimed 18-13 to wrap up the game 61-39.

Despite finishing on the losing side, Rwanda’s shooting guard Thierry Nkundwa dropped a game high 19 points, while Amir Bouzidi scored 16 points for Algeria.

Nkundwa also finished with game high assists (nine) followed by Algeria’s Ouail Sofiane Gadaoui, who had eight. Group B consists of Egypt, Rwanda, Algeria and Madagascar.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals which will be played in a knockout format, while the bottom two teams from each group in the group phase will play the classification games for positions 5-8.

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