South Sudan beat African basketball champions Tunisia for second straight time

[Photo: FIBA]

South Sudan on Saturday beat the reigning African champions Tunisia 75-61 in the ongoing FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers.

This is their second win against Tunisia, five months ago, they beat them 72-64.

"South Sudan knew that coming to Window 3 of the African Qualifiers they were the team to beat, and Tunisia were the frontrunner to challenge their lead in Group B, but South Sudan never panicked, even when they trailed by 7, they stayed focused," FIBA reported.

Tunisia's head coach Dirk Bauermann said of the South Sudan team, "They were better in all phases of the game, they were better defensively, they got more assists (19), better ball movement than we did, and they shot pretty well from the 3-pt range." 

"We struggled to score, we never found our rhythm, but these things happen, but this game in the past," he added. 

FIBA says Mareng Gatkuoth had a 4-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc to finish with 12 points off the bench; Nuni Omot was superb on both ends of the floor, finishing with 16 points; Kuany Ngor Kuany added 12, and Sunday Dech hit two critical three-pointers that made Tunisia look helpless.

"I don’t think we have a limit. Tonight as a group we did a great job of playing together. It wasn’t just one person," noted Omot after the win. 

South Sudan head coach Royal Ivey said, "I keep telling the guys, we got our respect, but don't get too content because we haven't done anything yet. We got to take game by game."

Before they open their Second Round campaign in August, they still have to take on Cameroon today. 

South Sudan beat the hosts Rwanda 73-63 on Friday.