Basketball in Africa

Uganda 88 Eritrea 77

In basketball, Uganda recovered from a poor start to edge out Eritrea 88-77 and put their title campaign on track.

Eritrea, will have themselves to blame having been first to settle into the game. They claimed an early lead. However, their defence relaxed and allowed Uganda to comeback and see them end the first quarter at 23-21.

Tom Ochamuringa, Uganda's coach made a few substitutions and went on the counter to score 22 points to take their tally to 43 against Eritrea's 38 at the end of the first half.

Eritrea resorted to a more physical approach as their coach Negusse Habiemariam urged them on. Uganda scored 16 points while Eritrea added 22.

Francis Tumusiime's14 points, Solomon Ssali (15) and Chicho Mutaryega (12) were the top scorers for Uganda while Michael Ghezeley (16), Joel Petros (38) and Ared Efrem (15) answered for Eritrea.

Somalia 63 Rwanda 72

Rwanda started their campaign well beating Somalia 72-63 in a tough Pool "B" basketball challenge. Fiston Muhire drew first blood scoring two points as Eritrea rushed to an 18-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. However, Somalia whose team has players from America, England, Canada and Mogadishu made a comeback and claimed a five point lead at the end of the first half, piling more pressure on Rwanda.

On resumption, Basgir Musee, Mohammed Khalif and Ibrahim Ali were on target for Somalia but their efforts were cancelled by Bertrand Muhire and Gispin Gishoma.

Ethiopia 28 Burundi 73

Ethiopia found the going tough as they were trounced by Burundi 73-28. Trained by Yetugeta Negussie, Ethiopia got the first two points but were forced to the defensive as Burundi upped their game to claim a deserved 16-9 lead after the first quarter.