Angola has won its record-setting 12th AfroBasket championship, defeating Mali on Sunday by a score of 70-43 in the tournament’s championship game.
Angola, the host of AfroBasket 2025, was led by Childe Dundao, who scored a game-high 16 points vs. Mali to go along with five assists, four rebounds, and three steals. The 27-year-old point guard was named the Most Valuable Player of the event in addition to earning a spot on the AfroBasket All-Tournament team.
Former NBA big man Bruno Fernando didn’t make a massive impact in the final, registering five points, five rebounds, and a pair of blocks in less than 17 minutes of action, but he was also named to the All-Tournament team after averaging 7.8 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 1.7 BPG across six outings.
Angola was a dominant force in African basketball between 1989 and 2013, when the African Championships were being held every two years — during that time, the Angolan national team won 11 of 13 titles, taking third place in 1997 and finishing as the runner-up in 2011. However, Angola lost the championship game in 2015 and didn’t advance to the final four in either the 2017 or 2021 events, which were both won by Tunisia. This year’s title was Angola’s first since 2013.
Despite a disappointing offensive showing on Sunday, it was a historic performance for Mali, which had never before competed in an AfroBasket championship game. Point guard Siriman Kanoute, who plays professionally in France, was the team’s leading scorer on Sunday with 14 points, while center Aliou Diarra and forward Mahamane Coulibaly earned spots on the All-Tournament team.
Prior to Sunday’s title game, Sengeal defeated Cameroon in the third-place matchup, with reigning Basketball Africa League MVP Jean Jacques Boissy racking up 40 points and seven assists in a dominant performance. Pelicans center Yves Missi, one of two current NBA players competing in the event, recorded nine points and seven rebounds on Sunday for Cameroon, but his team was outscored by 26 points during his 24 minutes on the floor.
It was Sengal’s third consecutive third-place AfroBasket finish and the fifth time in a row the country has competed in the third-place game.