Day 4 of the 2013 FIBA Africa Championship is in the books, with Groups B and D playing their second set of games on Friday. The round-robin portion of the tournament is for seeding purposes only, however, because all 16 teams participating automatically advance to the knockout round.
Let's take a look at Friday's action:
Morocco 87, Rwanda 57 -- Morocco responded from a tough loss to Tunisia with a dominant performance over Rwanda. Abdelhakim Zouita had 21 points and eight rebounds for Morocco, while Abderrahim Najah added 20 points and nine boards.
Morocco jumped all over Rwanda from the tip, running out to a 30-10 lead after the first quarter. Morocco extended their lead to 25 points by halftime and cruised the rest of the way to victory. Morocco shot 47.8 percent from the field and won the rebounding battle handily, 47-35.
Kenneth Gasans had 22 points to lead Rwanda, but he shot just 5-for-17 from the field. Cameroun Bradley was the only other player on Rwanda to reach double figures with 15 points. Rwanda shot a dismal 29.5 percent from the field and turned the ball over 19 times.
Tunisia 100, Burkina Faso 45 -- Tunisia is certainly a favorite for a top-three finish and advancement to next year's FIBA World Cup, but their 55-point victory over Burkina Faso is more due to the lack of experience Burkina Faso has in international competition.
Tunisia was once again led by Macram Ben Romdhane, this time scoring 23 points thanks to an improved efficiency at the free throw line (6-for-10 Friday compared to 5-for-17 on Wednesday). Former NBA Summer Leaguer Salah Mejri added 13 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, while Mourad El Mabrouk rounded out Tunisia's double-digit scorers with 16 points of his own.
Burkina Faso was led by Joris Ambroise Bruno Bado's 14 points, but none of his teammates scored more than seven. It didn't help, either, that the underdogs had only a few more rebounds (35) than turnovers (29).
Nigeria 93, Republic of Congo 75 -- Nigeria is one of the most talented teams in the tournament, sporting four players with NBA experience and a few others who have been on the NBA's radar. It came as no surprise, then, that Nigeria jumped out to a 21-point lead at halftime and never looked back.
Former Georgia Tech standout Alade Aminu was the team's leading scorer with 23 points and nine rebounds, but there were plenty of other solid performances on the Nigerian side of the ball. Veteran NBA big Ike Diogu scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in 22 minutes, New Orleans Pelicans wing Al-Farouq Aminu had 15 points and Stan Okoye -- a rookie who averaged 21 and nine for the VMI Cadets last year -- scored 14 points. The team's other former NBAers weren't as impressive as the aforementioned few, however, as Gani Lawal had four points and five rebounds, while Ben Uzoh contributed eight rebounds, seven boards and five assists.
The Congolese team was led by 19 points from Giovan Oniangue on the strength of 5-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Teammates Bertrand Boukinda-Dibessa and Kris Morlende added 14 points apiece, but it wasn't nearly enough to overcome their 49-24 disadvantage on the boards.
Cameroon 89, Mali 35 -- This game was 49-12 at halftime ... and didn't get any prettier after that, either, so we'll keep the recap short.
The only NBA player in the game -- new Sacramento Kings wing Luc Richard Mbah a Moute -- scored 16 points and added seven rebounds in just 18 minutes of action while Jeremy Nzeulie and Christian Bayang added 16 and 10, respectively, to round out Cameroon's double-digit scorers.
Unsurprisingly, Mali didn't have a player score more than seven points, as they made just 13 of their 52 attempts from the field and turned the ball over a whopping 34 times.
Next up: All eight teams will be in action again Sunday to complete round-robin play before the knockout tournament begins next week.