SaturdayGroup BMadagascar 95-87 Rwanda

Rwanda U16 boys’ team suffered another loss, this time against Madagascar 95-87 to finish bottom of Group B at the ongoing FIBA U16 African Basketball Championships in Mauritius.

Defeat was Rwanda’s third in a row after previous loses at hands of Algeria on Thursday and defending champions Egypt on Friday. Moise Mutokambali’s youngsters will now head into classification games after failing to make it to semi-finals of the eight-team competition.

Rwanda claimed the opening quarter 26-24 before winning the second one by 21-18 but failed to keep the momentum in the third quarter, losing it 26-13. Both sides scored 27 points in the final quarter.

Madagascar’s Marco Rakotovao scored a game high 34 points while Thierry Kundwa of Rwanda, who is so far among best players of the tournament, scored 30 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals but it was not enough to save the day for the reigning FIBA Africa Zone V champions.

By press time, Egypt were due to face fellow North African rivals Algeria in the final game of Group B with either team looking to qualify for the last four as the group leaders.

Both teams had already qualified for the semi-finals going into the game, having both beaten Rwanda and Madagascar.

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