Too unfortunate for the Malians making their first final appearance in 20 outings at the championship,but failed to win their first title.
Angola on its part,reclaimed the title they lost to Nigeria in 2015 in their first final since then, to add to their eleven titles before now, to take their tally to 12.
‎Currently ranked third in Africa and 33rd in the world, Angola made mincemeat of Mali, ranked 12th in Africa and 83rd in the world, beating them in all four quarters: 14-10, 18-10, 19-11, and 19-12, with a whopping 27 points, resulting in a 70-43 victory.
‎Angola’s Childe Dundao was the highest scorer on both sides, amassing 16 points, despite his efficiency of 11 percent being lower than Mali’s Aliou Diarra, who had an efficiency of 15 percent.
Angola almost fell to the sharp teeth of giant killers, Lions of Cameroon in a tensed 2nd semifinal on Saturday night, had to dig deep to win 74-73 in a match that was 73-73 at just 6 seconds to go.
Cameroon which defeated defending champions, Tunisia in their first game of the tournament will never be forgotten by players, team handlers and fans of Angola .
Angola showed champions stuff from the start, and fought like trojans in every game, with Cape Verde almost upsetting the champions but Angola won the quarterfinals 90-80.
Angola had beaten Tunisia 73-62; whipped Libya 85-53; shoved Guinea 84-68 and humbled South Sudan 66-64.
Angola ranked 33 is the most decorated male basketball team in Africa having won 11 times; bagged the Silver 4 times and got the Bronze twice.
Nigeria’s D’Tigers finished fifth at the Championship after failing to cross the Senegal hurdle in the quarter final.
