The AfroBasket 2015 tournament held in Rades, on the outskirts of Tunis, is over and Nigeria claimed their first-ever tournament title on Sunday.
Among the 192 registered players who took part in the tournament, three are current NBA players, while a few have played in the NBA before and others might have a chance to join the league.
SuperSport.com takes a closer at how Al-Farouq Aminu (Portland Trail Blazers), Gorgui Dieng (Minnesota Timberwolves) and Salah Mejri (Dallas Mavericks) did in Africa’s flagship basketball tournament.
Aminu (Nigeria)
The Portland Trail Blazers new recruit not only helped his country win their first-ever AfroBasket title, but he also will play in the Olympic Games for the second time in a row.
Three years ago, his Nigeria team stunned the basketball world after beating European households Greece and Russia in the 2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Caracas, Venezuela, to advance to the London Games.
In the past two weeks, however, Nigeria secured direct qualification for the Rio Games, and the 24-year-old Aminu played a big part in the team’s success.
He averaged 12 points per game, and came up with a crucial double-double performance in an 88-79 Semi-Final overtime win over Dieng’s Senegal.
Nigeria entered the AfroBasket 2015 Final having lost all nine games against Angola dating back to 1987, however, Aminu stepped on floor prepared to do whatever was necessary to revert that tendency.
And, he did pretty well with his 10 points and 10 rebounds as Nigeria outplayed Angola to seal a 74-65 victory.
Dieng (Senegal)
Dieng was an all-round man for Senegal, who entered the tournament aiming at winning their second AfroBasket title since 1997.
In seven games, the Minnesota Timberwolves centre finished with tournament-highs 22 points, 15 rebounds and 37.9 minutes per game.
He also recorded five double-doubles, however, facing Nigeria in the Semi-Finals proved too much for Dieng as Senegal fell short 88-79 in overtime.
Although Dieng run up and down the floor for 45 minutes to go with 20 points and 16 rebounds against Nigeria, the Senegalese were unable to maintain their five-game winning streak.
The 25-year-old was clearly one of the stars in the competition, and it was against Mozambique that Dieng had his highest contribution as he finished with 28 points and 18 rebounds to help Senegal clinch a 86-70 victory in the Group Phase.
Eventually, Senegal, who headed to the Semi-Finals with a 5-0 record, finished fourth in the competition at 5-2.
Mejri (Tunisia)
The Mavericks recruit is veneered in the North African country. For every right move he made throughout the tournament, local fans – who sold-out most of Tunisia’s games at 12.000 capacity Salle Omnisport Rades – cheered loudly.
The seven-footer centre played his best game in Day 2 of the competition as he sparked Tunisia to a 70-59 victory over Nigeria in the Group Phase.
In that game against the new champions, Mejri did a bit of everything. He blocked shots, dunked, made shots from three-point range (2 for 2), dished out an assist, did the job on the boards and, unsurprisingly, was the local fans’ favourite.
However, Mejri’s stunning performance wasn’t going to last much longer as he suffered a leg injured and was never the same again for the remainder of the tournament.
Although he averaged 10 points and 7 rebounds, he was unable to help Tunisia in a 58-51 Semi-Final defeat against Angola due to his leg injury. He limped off the court with just 2 points in 26 minutes.
As Tunisia went on to beat Senegal in the third-place game, Mejri saw the game from the sidelines.
In finishing second, third and fourth, Angola, Tunisia and Senegal will have a second chance to qualify for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games by playing in a FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in 2016.
Both Dieng and Aminu headlined the All-Tournament team along with Angola’s Carlos Morais, Chamberlain Oguchi of Nigeria and Makram Ben Romdhane of Tunisia.
