Morocco bounce back from a loss to defeat South Africa and go 2-1

Morocco got the game underway with 11 straight points following 3 straight three-point shots from Omar Karem and Rayane Solhi. That seemed to take the wind out of this Protea team of South Africa. The South Africans however seemed to find a way back through Siyabonga Mashaba after he hit a 3 and a free-throw to get them back in the thick of things. It would be an even more difficult contest for them as Omar Karem and Rayane Solhi erupted for 12 and eight first quarter points respectively. However, Morocco’s lack of defensive discipline kept South Africa in the game as they committed crucial fouls that led to South Africa converting 5 free-throws to take their tally up to 10 points in the first quarter. The score was 24-10 in favor of the Moroccan Atlas Lions.

The same theme would continue in the second quarter as Morocco would send South Africa to the free-throw line four more times but this time, South Africa would only convert one of their four attempts. They also struggled to slow down Omar Karem who added eight more points to his tally to take him up to 20 points at the half. It was also a slower half for the Atlas Lions as they only scored 15 points in the second quarter.

South Africa continued to play a spotless defensive game as Morocco did not shoot a single free-throw in the first half. The two teams would go into the break with the Proteas of South Africa trailing 39-19. The third quarter would start even slower for both teams. Morocco only scoring 7 points in the first seven minutes of the quarter and South Africa going scoreless for the first six minutes of the quarter. Uviwe Shongwe of South Africa managed to find his way to the rim a few times but squandered a lot of his opportunities. These squandered chances would prove important especially in a slow quarter that could swing all the momentum in their favor. The teams would go on to draw this quarter at 8 points each.

 Noah El Baze had the following to say:

I am really proud of myself and my teammates. We were able to bounce back after the previous defeat. It was a tough one but we managed to bounce back and qualify for the quarter-finals... we forgot about things like stats and that really helped us play as a unit and you can see that by the results

It is in the fourth quarter that all the difference would be made, and Morocco would put on a defensive masterclass to limit South Africa to only four points all quarter while they would go on to score 19 points. Omar Karem would close this game off with a game high of 26 points while his teammate Rayane Solhi would go on to record 22 points, 11 rebounds and 5 steals. Morocco went on to win this game 66-31 and provisionally book their spot in the knockout stage, pending the result of the final group game between Rwanda and Zambia.

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[Photography / Imagery Courtesy of FIBA]