Morocco maintains supremacy over Zambia at U18 AfroBasket.

Having watched their women’s team dominate Zambia 75-56 earlier in the day, Morocco’s U18 men’s team was keen on continuing the winning streak over Zambia in their Group C opener.

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The Zambians however were resolved to tackle the Moroccan challenge, and they got off to a good start by leading 4-2 but the game was only starting. With one side keen on reenacting the progress of the women’s team while the other wanted to avenge an earlier defeat suffered by their women’s team, both teams engaged in end-to-end action.

However, with a more disciplined and skillful team, the Moroccans quickly led by six points 12-6, forcing the Zambian bench to shuffle its deck.
The first quarter, full of intensity and exciting basketball, went by very quickly, ending with Morocco's 23-12 lead. The young Zambians seemed to have lost their shooting mojo, failing to make a single shot behind the arc despite eight clumsy attempts.

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In the second quarter, Morocco continued its undermining work even though Blessed Wakunguma tried to restore order with two successful outside shots. But Morocco proved to be too hot to handle, and by the time both teams headed to the locker room at halftime, the score was 44-29.

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Maintaining a gap between 15 and 20 points is what Morocco’s coach Mohamed Meshabi asked in the locker room. However confident over their lead, the young Moroccans forgot the instructions and Zambia buoyed by Frank Siame who ended the game with 26 points and 8 rebounds came back powerfully into the game to cut their deficit to five points with the third quarter ending at 61-55.

"I incorporated players from the bench and our intensity dropped. I have a team that scores an average of 80 points because we trained for a month for that with seven friendly matches against excellent teams" Morocco's coach Mohamed Mesbahi.

Having done so much in the third quarter, the Zambians slumped in the fourth quarter as Morocco’s Rayane Solhi scored 21 points while Omar Karem added 18 points with Ali El Baze and Mohammed Bahmad both reaching double digits to close the quarter with 27-15 lead and cap off a scintillating 84-67 victory to continue Morocco’s winning streak over Zambia in both U18 AfroBaskets.

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[Photography / Imagery Courtesy of FIBA]

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