Congo’s Leopards Hold off Morocco in Fiery Showdown to Keep Qualifying Dreams Alive!

Congo’s Leopards Hold off Morocco in Fiery Showdown to Keep Qualifying Dreams Alive!

The Atlas Lions of Morocco came into this matchup knowing the challenge that befell them as they went down the day before to South Sudan. They knew that winning this game would keep their hopes of qualifying alive; however, they also knew that the Leopards of Congo would play a physical game. The first quarter was a showdown between the two big men – Mohamed Choua from Morocco and Jordan Sakho from DR Congo.

Both men dominated early in the paint, scoring ten and 12 points, respectively. Choua showed a bit more finesse as he extended his range and dropped a shot from beyond the arc. Morocco played a very technical game as they had better all-rotation and showed more poise in the paint, but the Congolese played with a higher tempo, were more aggressive and were more clinical from outside the paint. Ultimately, there was very little to separate between either team as they ended the quarter at 22-19 to DRC.

The second quarter was all Morocco with the wind in their sails. In the early going, the North Africans settled more into the game and were able to correct their mistakes in the first quarter. They continued to go to the paint to tire Jodan Sakhowho, who was a handful for them in the first quarter. Khalid Boukichou led this charge for the Moroccans. He scored 7 points this quarter and put the Congolese in foul trouble.

He maintained his composure while continuing his first-half streak of not missing a free throw. Only this time, he also extended his range and dropped a three-pointer. Jordan Sakho could not get a point in the second quarter as the Moroccans made it difficult for him. This led coach Perrin to look to his bench once again.

He brought on Florent Thamba, whose intangible contributions allowed his teammates to find their footing. Christian Lutete, who came to the rescue of the Congolese against Mali, had not recorded a single point in the first quarter, but he erupted in the second quarter. The Bosnia-based guard erupted for 12 points in the second quarter.

At the beck and call of the Leopards, he [Lutete] answered the call again at the end of the second quarter when Morocco was leading 39-38 with less than 4 seconds left on the game clock. He calmly got past his defender to beat the buzzer for a three-pointer that sent the Leopards roaring at the half with the score at 41-39 in their favour.

The Leopards began to sprint away from the Atlas Lions in the third quarter when they upped the ante defensively to limit the Moroccans to only 11 points. Hamza Bechchar scored 5 of the 11 points for the Moroccans to stop the bleeding inflicted by the Congolese. However, they had no answers for the Congolese armada led by Lutete, who scored another 7 points in the quarter and the return of Jordan Sakho, who added five more points to his tally.

Perhaps the game changer was the captain, Rolly Fula, who found his footing with five crucial points to add wind to the sail of the Leopards. They continued their defence, making their paint impenetrable. They further took advantage of the carelessness of the Moroccans by scoring some fastbreak points. This took the score up to 58-50 in favour of the Leopards.

Despite the Congolese's lead, they knew they had to remain focused in the fourth quarter as this well-organized Moroccan side would bounce back. The Moroccans did just that as they managed to stop Jordan Sakho and not allow him to score a single point in the fourth quarter.

Florent Thamba stepped in again to secure rebounds and keep Choua off the paint. Still, the Moroccans pushed back with some heroic efforts from Ilias Aqboub and Jihad Benchlikha with some second chance opportunities. However, Captain Congo, Christian Lutete, was scorching hot as he had a reply for every Moroccan attempt. He added 8 points to his tally when he scored two long threes and knocked down two free-throws to keep Morocco at bay and claim a 74-65 victory.

Captain Rolly Fula praised his team for their efforts saying:

We managed our defensive duties well… it is not easy to play back-to-backgames against a physical Malian side and a technically sound Moroccan side but we knew we would only do well because of our defense. We will bring the same intensity and leave it all on the floor to defeat South Sudan.

The Leopards will play their final game of this window of qualifiers against the number one team in Africa, South Sudan, who have also beaten Morocco and Mali. The Leopards will look to upset the bright stars of South Sudan but are conscientious of the task ahead of them.

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[Photography Courtesy of FIBA]