It came later than they wanted but debutants Cameroon collected their first win in FIBA U19 World Cup history. The Africans beat Dominican Republic in Classification 13-16 action.
Hermann Bel scored only one-field goal in this game, but it turned out to be the most important one. Bel scored a go-ahead put-back basket with just 6.2 seconds in the game to break the tie and get the win.
Cameroon rallied from 18 points down to knock off the Americas side 86-84 in Classification 13-16 action. Noe Bom led the way with 19 points, Franck Belibi had 18 points, Wilf Kingue collected 18 points and 8 assists and Amadou Seini contributed 6 points and 14 rebounds.
Ronny Ewanke shined with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Cameroon will next play against the winner of China versus Jordan for 13th place.
It was a victory the Africans had hoped would come earlier.
Steve Tchiengang’s team came so close to getting their first win in the second game of the group stage against Australia. The Africans led by six points with 50 seconds to play but ended up watching Australia take the game to overtime where Cameroon lost 101-96 in double OT.
Cameroon then lost a 14-point lead in the Round of 16 and were defeated 86-82 to Israel in the Round of 16. That was followed by a loss to Argentina in Classification 9-16 action.
