03 July 2022 | Basketball

Walter Tavares and Williams Tavares combined for 43 points as Cape Verde defeated Uganda’s Silverbacks 87-78 in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers on Saturday.

Williams scored game-high 22 points while Walter 21 points before fouling out of the game.

The first half was as close as they have come in the past meetings with Cape Verde up by a point (44-43).

The Islanders only pulled away a built a 21-point lead into the fourth quarter as Silverbacks went through a scoring drought.

When Emmanuel Trovoada went to his bench, Silverbacks chipped away and came to within 2 points (78-81) to create a tense finish.

Joel Almeida (14 points) made a tough lay-up and later drew a foul to ice the game with a pair of free throws.

Cape Verde skipper Fidel Mendonca contributed 11 points while Ivan Almeida picked game-high 11 rebounds.

Ishmail Wainright scored a quiet 21 points, Arthur Kaluma added 17 points to go with 5 boards while John Deng Geu and Robinson Opong contributed 12 and 11 points respectively.

Despite the defeat, Uganda advances to the second round of the qualifiers with Mali disqualified for forfeiting two games. Uganda returns to action on Sunday afternoon against Nigeria.

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