After a match that lasted two hours and 45 minutes, the Moroccan national team defeated the Egyptian U19 team, which has qualified for the World Cup in Spain, with a score of 84/87. The game went into a second overtime after concluding the regular time in a tie at 74/74, and the first overtime also ended in a tie at 80/80. The Moroccan team secured this thrilling match in the second overtime with a score of 4/7, thanks to their playmaker Zahra Wajih, who plays professionally in France and scored the highest with 26 points.
It is noteworthy that the Egyptian team failed to capitalize on their control during the first half of the match, leading by 10 points (31/41), which allowed their opponent to dominate the events of the third and fourth periods, winning those periods 16/22 and 17/21. The match could have ended in regulation time if not for the miss by Zahra Wajih in the last two seconds, necessitating a five-minute overtime in which each team scored 6 points, maintaining the tie until the second overtime favored the Moroccans, who were the better side in that period. Additionally, the officiating crew resorted to video technology four times to resolve four contentious situations.
Egypt "A" maintains the lead
In the second match, which was attended by Major General (Ret.) Ismail Al-Qarqawi, President of the Arab and UAE Basketball Federations, and Dr. Magdy Abu Freikha, Vice President of the Arab Federation and President of the Egyptian Federation, the Egyptian team "A" easily triumphed over their Algerian counterparts with a score of 50/104, retaining their top position. They are looking forward to their final match against the Egyptian youth team tonight, Friday, which will be an exhibition match whose result will not affect the rankings of the teams heading into the semifinals on Sunday.
According to this ranking, the host team will face the Kuwaiti team in the next round, while the Moroccan and Algerian teams will compete against each other, with the winners advancing to the final match set for next Monday, preceded by a match to determine the third and fourth places.
