Carlos Morais of Angola competes during the group N match between Tunisia and Angola at the 2019 FIBA World Cup in Beijing, capital of China, on Sep. 8, 2019. (Xinhua/Meng Yongmin)
BEIJING, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Mohamed Hadidane sank a 3-pointer with 6 seconds remaining, lifting Tunisia over Angola 86-84 in the classification round of the 2019 FIBA World Cup here on Sunday.
Hadidane's three-pointer, the only shot he made in the whole game, gave Tunisia a 86-82 lead to sail to the victory. Michael Roll scored a game-high 21 points to lead Tunisia, while Makram Ben Romdhane added 20 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. Salah Mejri had 18 points, eight rebounds and eight blocks.
"Although we don't have the talents like the team USA,we won three matches this time. Compared to the last time we played this kind of tournament,we made a great progress." said Mario Palma, the head coach of Tunisia.
Yanick Moreira finished with 21 points and nine rebounds for Angola, who trailed by 15 points at the break. Gerson Domingos scored 19 points and went 4 of 5 from the 3-point range.
Tunisia had an 11-point lead entering the second quarter and made an 10-2 spurt, including two three-pointers from Romdhane, to extend it to 52-37 at halftime. Romdhane scored 18 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the three-point distance in the first half.
However, things went in another direction for Tunisia after the break. Tunisia suffered a scoring drought of about 4:30 minutes as Angola opened the second half with a 10-0 run to go within five points.
"It was a disappointing first half for us, I am glad that we showed what we can do in the second half." Angola's head coach Voigt William said.
Mourad El Mabroukv's jump shot ended the drought and led a 8-2 run to make it 60-49 for Tunisia, but Angola fought back again to cut the lead to 67-65 into the fourth.
Carlos Morais made a layup to give Angola their first lead of the match at 72-71 with seven minutes left in the fourth before Tunisia regained the lead and held on the rest of the way.
