Kenya's outing by numbers as AfroBasket concludes

The 2021 AfroBasket concluded on Sunday 5 September 2021 as Tunisia saw off Cote d'Ivoire 78-75 in an entertaining final for their third title, a second in a row. 

Kenya was eliminated in the pre-quaters stage after going down to debutants South Sudan 60-58. The team's elimination meant they leave the championship, where Kenya was making a return after 28 years, with one win against Mali. 

Tylor Ongwae was for another outing, Morans' top performer, his average numbers surpassing all his teammates'. The Bakken Bears' forward averaged 14.5 points per game with a 12.5 efficiency to top the charts for Morans. 

Albert Odero and Ariel Okall completed the top three performances in efficiency and points, the former averaging 14.0 points per game and 11.3 in efficiency. Uganda-based Okall averaged 6.3 on points and 8.5 efficiency per match.

In Morans first match against finalists Cote d'Ivoire Ongwae led in points both for the Morans and in the match at 25 as Matt Costello bagged 20 to help his side defeat Morans 88-70 with a final quarter charge for points. Tom Wamukota led the rebounding charts with 11 in the fame. 

In the second match against Nigeria, Odero led on points and rebounds managing 23 and eight respectively. Ongwae picked a double-double in Morans' 72-66 win against Mali with 16 points and 11 rebounds, also dominating on assists with seven. 

In the qualifier to the quarters against South Sudan, Odero gave another good performance as Morans came from a 20-point deficit to lose by a basket. He scored 18 points while Ongwae made 10.rebounds and five assists. 

Okall came second on the Morans' list of top rebounder at 6.5 rebounds per game as Ongwae led 7.5. Wamukota was third with 5.3. Ongwae, James Situma and Victor Bosire led the assists chart for Morans at 4.5 assists per game, 3.0 and 1.5 respectively. 

Of the three top performer Okall was on the floor for the least number of minutes, averaging 20 mins having played 31.40 minutes against South Sudan, 14.11 against Mali, 16.38 against Nigeria 17.35 against Cote d'Ivoire.  

None of the Kenyan players made it to the top performer's award list. However, coach Liz Mills, who became the first woman to coach at AfroBasket, was recognised alongside three other players for their contribution to the game of basketball. The other three are Eduardo Mingas, Stephane Konate and Slimante Radhouane (Tunisia).

Meanwhile, Tunisian Makram Ben Romdhane was named the FIBA AfroBasket 2021 Most Valuable Player after sparking his country to their third continental title.

The 32-year-old, who recently joined Portuguese giants SL Benfica from Tunisian side US Monastir, was vital to his national team throughout the tournament.The power forward averaged 12 points, and a team-high 7.6 rebounds per game.

Romdhane, who was picked to the FIBA AfroBasket All-Star team for the second time since the 2015 edition of the tournament when he helped his country to the Third-Place finish, contributed eight points and ten rebounds in the title game against Cote d'Ivoire on Sunday.

Joining Romdhane in the All-Tournament team were his teammate Omar Abada, Gorgui Dieng (Senegal) Costello (Cote d'Ivoire) and Walter Tavares (Cape Verde).

Dieng, who made the Top-5 performers list for the third straight time - after the 2015 and 2017 editions - and received the best-scorer award, averaged 20 points and a team-best 10.5 rebounds per game. 

Abada contributed 12.4 points and 4.8 assists per game, while Costello, a key piece to Cote d'Ivoire's spectacular campaign, finished as the sixth leading scorer in the tournament with averages of team-highs 16.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. 

Tavares, who made his first AfroBasket appearance since 2013, was terrific at both ends of the floor.

The 2.21m (7ft 3in) center not only contributed a tournament-highs 14.2 rebounds and four blocks per game, but he also led Cape Verde with 16.8 points per game.

Tavares won the Best-Rebounder award with 85 rebounds in six games.

Meanwhile, former AfroBasket MVP Carlos Morais won the Best-Three-Pointer award.

Additional information by FIBA