Mourad El Mabrouk hit a three-pointer with four seconds remaining to rescue Tunisia from impending elimination and set up a last-eight encounter with Mali on Thursday (August 27).

Top scorer Salah Mejri also played a key role as he denied a potentially game-winning lay-up from Morocco's Abdelhakim Zouita with four seconds left in normal time, despite appearing to be experiencing pain to his knee.

Tunisia’s next opponents Mali ensured a quarter-final spot for the first time in six years courtesy of a 76-57 success at the expense of Ivory Coast.

Boubabcar Sidibe came off the bench to score a team-high 18 points for Mali, who managed to stifle Ivory Coast’s leading scorer Souleyman Diabate in a match they dominated throughout.

Defeat for Ivory Coast sees them fail in their attempt to reach the quarter-finals for the fifth successive time, condemning them to the classification games.

In the opening round of 16 tie, Egypt advanced to the next stage thanks to a conclusive 102-62 victory over Zimbabwe.

Point guard Ehab Amin notched a game-high 18 points as one of five players in double figures for Egypt, who became the first team to score over 100 points in the tournament and also registered the biggest margin of victory so far.

The 2013 finalists led for all but 27 seconds of the encounter, outplaying debutants Zimbabwe whose only player to reach double figures was Vitalis Chikoko with 17 points.

They will now go on to face Angola, the team who beat them in the 2013 final, after they narrowly defeated Central African Republic (CAF) 62-61 to stave off what would have been a major upset.  

Yanick Moreira, who finished with team-highs of 16 points and seven rebounds, hit a hook shot to give Angola the lead with less than five seconds remaining and save their blushes. 

CAF’s Max Kouguere was unlucky to be on the losing side having led the scorers list with 23 points.

The four remaining round of 16 fixtures are scheduled to take place tomorrow, starting with Senegal’s match against Uganda.

Cape Verde’s meeting with Gabon is set to follow before Nigeria take on Mozambique and Cameroon go up against Algeria.



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