Uganda National Men’s basketball team the Silverbacks started their campaign at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers widow 1 on a wrong footing after falling to Mali 76-66 on Friday. 26th. November. 2021 in Benguela, Angola.

The Silverbacks started had an impressive start in the first quarter which ended 21-19 in favor of Mali but should have themselves to blame after giving away a lot of possession in terms of turn-overs.

Going into the second quarter, Mali continued to dominant proceedings but still Uganda managed to keep it in close range by half time with the score still being in favor of the West Africans at 36-30.

After the recess, the Silverbacks pushed for a comeback but were deeply stretched by Mali who consistently led throughout the third and fourth quarters.

Brandon Davies led the score board for the Silverbacks scoring 24 points; 16 rebounds and 5 assists; followed by Titus Lual with 12 points and Eric Rwahwire with 11 points.

Silverbacks’ loss to Mali was the third in a row; with the first two coming during the double header games in the 2019 World Cup qualifiers.

Under the circumstances in which the team travelled, losing by a difference of 10 points is an indicator that the Silverbacks put up a good level of competitiveness a big boast of a better performance in the other two games remaining group games where they will be looking at getting positive results against Cape Verde and Nigeria whom they play on Saturday. 27th and Sunday. 28th. November. 2021 respectively.

Uganda needs to finish in the top three positions in this group to stand a chance of proceeding to the next and last qualification round for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup that will be staged in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.

Uganda Vs Mali was also a debut game for Small Forward Emmanuel Timothy Womala.

Womala features for EN Baskets Schwelm in the Germany Basketball Bundesliga (ProB).

By Joseph Mary Ssempiira www.sportznow.ug writer.