The national team beat the Philippines, one of the hosts of the tournament, by 80-70, postponing the decision to move on to the third round, in which they will face the Dominican Republic, one of the strong teams of the championship and that in the last game they surpassed Italy by 87-82, leading Group A, with four points.
In a game on the second round of the group, played at the Smarte Araneta Coliseum pavilion in Manila, the Angolans tried to impose themselves early on, having reached the break already in advantage (36-33), despite having fallen behind in the first four (12- 19). After the break, the national representatives managed to gain the upper hand, distancing themselves from the host formation in a convincing way in the third and fourth periods (56-52 and 80-70).
Gerson Lukeny was the team's top scorer, with 17 points, followed by Gerson Domingos (15) and Bruno Fernando (14).
After the defeat of the first round, against Italy (67-81), Angola now occupies the third position of the group, with three points, the same as the Italians who are in second place. With everything open, the Angolans are waiting for this Tuesday's game, against the Dominican Republic, to define the leaderboard and the possibility of moving forward in the competition.
In the other matches played this weekend, the big surprise was the defeat of the French, named as one of the candidate teams to win the competition. By giving in to Latvia (88-86), the Gauls were thus removed from the next stage of the Basketball World Cup, taking place in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines.
After having suffered a heavy defeat against Canada, by 95-65, in their debut, they were forced to win this match to remain in the competition, but they gave way again in front of a selection that makes its debut in the World Cup.
France still entered the final quarter with a comfortable lead of 12 points (74-62), but ended up seeing the difference reduced, with the Latvians taking the lead with just 37 seconds left, when Sylvain Francisco missed a three-point 'shot' that could have guaranteed the triumph.
While France stayed away, Group H already has the two teams qualified, since Latvia, with this second triumph, and Canada, who beat Lebanon, secured the first two places, which give access to the next phase.
Group D was also already defined, with Lithuania, who beat Mexico (96-66), and Montenegro, who defeated Egypt (89-74), securing the second triumphs in the 'poule' and, from the outset, the clearance.
In Group E, the host Japan still kept the hopes of moving on, by beating Finland 98-88, while Germany leads with two triumphs, after defeating Australia by 85-82.
