BY SEGUN OLANREWAJU
Cameroon men national basketball team on Sunday showed that they are the new emerging force in African basketball when they beat one of West African basketball powerhouse, Senegal by 80-74 points to pick the only ticket available in the Paris 2024 pre- Olympic qualifiers decided at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos.
The high tension game which was full of suspense, saw both teams approaching the first quarter cautiously, running neck to neck to end the quarter 25-25.
In the second quarter, the Central Africans took control of the game with their points guards looking unstoppable which enabled them to win the quarter 47-33.
After the break, the Paul Biya boys continued to dictate the pace of the game, making adequate use of free throws and three points in trying to overcome their opponents.
Although the Senegalese fought back gallantly but their effort was not enough to deny the Cameroonians victory in the quarter which they also won by 62-54.
Despite going into the last quarter with eight points lead, the Cameroonians were rattled in the early minutes of the quarter which saw Senegal at a stage reducing the points to two but the resilience of the Central Africans paid off as they made adequate use of rebounds and good defensive work marshalled by their playmaker, Jeremiah Hills and Paul Eboua to overcome their opponent in the keenly contested final quarter, ending the game victoriously.
With this result, Cameroon is now through to the final leg of the qualifiers to be held next year to determine the countries that will be at Paris 2024 Olympics.
Speaking on the game, an excited Cameroonian Coach, Alfred Roland Aboya Baliaba noted that they got their momentum right throughout the duration of the match just as he described the victory as evidence of hard work and dedication noting that he’s happy that Cameroonian basketball has now greatly improved.
” I’m happy with this victory which is an indication that our game has improved tremendously. If you remember at the 2021 Afrobasketball finals, we came 6th out of the 16 teams that participated in that championship and what this victory shows is that we’re moving on.
Baliaba while rating the qualifiers high assured that his team will be beefed up ahead of the final qualifiers for France 2024 Olympics,
Six countries namely, host Nigeria, Mali, Guinea, Tunisia, Senegal and Cameron took part in the qualifiers while DR Congo and Uganda withdrew at the last minute.
