Mali's clean slate intact after surviving Côte d’Ivoire scare in Group A clash

Who could have guessed that Mali, past winners of the U18 AfroBasket, would have been outplayed by Côte d'Ivoire? Certainly not the Malians, who went into the game on a 2-0 run.

But that's exactly what happened, when Côte d'Ivoire woke up late to find themselves just one point away from taking Mali into extra time with just seconds remaining.

The Ivorians looked well on course for a stunning upset before a Nelson Tiemoko Lamizana Jr's foul on Sekou Osmane Bagayoko. Mali's Bagayoko wasted no time in nailing two free throws offered to him on a platter of gold, annihilating the Ivorians' ambitions and giving them a 73-69 win.

‘Our team is very strong physically. The other team was more physical. But we managed. Today, we didn't play well in the paint. In other words, we defended badly. But we made up for it. Now that we're in the quarter-finals, we're going to work harder and we'll be fine,’ said Mamadou Traore.

With his 13 points and 4 rebounds, Mamadou Traore contributed to his side's victory. The game's standout performer was Youssouf Mamby Traore, with 10 points and 16 rebounds, while Mamadou Diarra finished with 18 points and 4 rebounds. Ibrahim Oumar Doumbia also made his contribution, with 15 points in 25 minutes on the court.

Nonetheless, Côte d'Ivoire had a lot to offer in this game. Caleb Ourigou, with 10 points and 7 rebounds, Alexandre Nfomoum-Lomby(14 points, 4 rebounds), Gomis Boedi (15 points, 8 rebounds), and Zie CheikHassan Conde (13 points, 6 rebounds) gave the former African champions a tough time.

The score at the end of each quarter reflected the intensity of the fixture. Côte d'Ivoire opened the scoring, but didn't lead for long, being pegged back by their opponents in the first quarter, which ended 17-14 in Mali's favour.

Mali kept up the pressure, but lost a little ground in the second quarter and saw Côte d'Ivoire come back to within a point (17-19,34-33) at half-time.

In the third quarter, the Eaglets took off (24-16) and seemed to have definitively extended their lead (58-49). But in the last quarter, against all odds, the Elephants came back and pulled level, leaving the Malians trembling right to the end. They can thank Sekou Osmane Bagayoko, who had a hand in both free throws to seal victory.

With this win, Mali maintain their unbeaten record, while Côte d'Ivoire record their third straight setback and will have to make do with the classification matches.

‍

[Photography / Imagery Courtesy of FIBA]

‍