South Sudan ends World Cup debut with rout of Angola, books ticket to Olympics

In its first-ever appearance in the World Cup, South Sudan made sure to leave a lasting impression as it defeated Angola in their final classification phase, 101-78,  to close out its 2023 FIBA World Cup campaign.

South Sudan will end their run with a 3-2 win-loss card while Angola dropped to 1-4.

They had to earn the hard-fought win against the gutsy Angola, who erased what was once a 23-point deficit to close the gap to just 13 late in the third after two freebies from Gerson Domingos, 54-67.

Silvio de Sousa continued to rally the Angolans in the fourth after sinking two charities, 67-79. But South Sudan never relinquished its lead en route to the victory.

Carlik Jones once again carried South Sudan with a near triple-double outing of 26 points, 15 assists, and seven rebounds while Marial Shayok chipped in 18 markers and three boards.

With its win coupled with Egypt's tight 88-86 loss to New Zealand today, South Sudan has also qualified to the 2024 Paris Olympics for the first time in history.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News