Uganda beat Rwanda to qualify for 2017 AfroBasket

(Credit: FUBA/iHoops Basketball Academy)

FIBA 2017 AFROBASKET QUALIFICATION: ZONE 5

Semi-final result

Uganda 77 Rwanda 64

Egypt 135 Burundi 71

Silverbacks captain Stephen Omony scored 15 points and had five steals as the Silverbacks of Uganda beat Rwanda to qualify for the 2017 AfroBasket championship.

Egypt, also in the same zone, qualified after whipping Burundi, also on Friday.

Uganda will play Egypt in the final on Saturday to determine who wins the zone.

With their three successive victories in the concluding Zone 5 AfroBasket qualifiers in the Egyptian capital Cairo,  Silverbacks will surely feature at the continent's biggest basketball tournament come August.

This will be in August (19-30) in Congo Brazzaville.

Mandy Juruni's side had an explosive start to the qualifiers after registering an impressive 94-72 victory over Somalia on Monday.

Silverbacks maintained their brilliance two days later with an 85-56 win over Burundi.

And Friday night was no different.

The Ugandan side whipped Rwanda 77-64 in their semifinal game at Cairo Stadium to  return for a successive continental showpiece.

Juruni's side depended on a collective scoring effort to put their last opponent to the August 2017 AfroBasket out of the way.

Darrius Pegues led the  Silverbacks to their victory with 20 points and nine rebounds. Stanley Ocitti contributed 16 points, Omonyi had 15 and five steals while Joseph Ikong netted 16.