Angola beats Serbia

HANGZHOU – African basketball champions Angola dispatched Serbia 68-60 to win the Stankovic Cup yesterday, giving them a great boost ahead of next month’s Beijing Olympics.

Angola won all three of their games in Hangzhou, earlier beating a young team from Russia and the Chinese squad led by NBA All-Star Yao Ming, which it will again face in Group B of the Olympic tournament. “We won the championship and we are happy about this,” Angolan coach Alberto Carvalho said.”But this was not our final goal, nor was it our goal to beat China – we have more specific goals and that is to prepare our players for the Olympic Games.”The goal of our team is to go into every game with confidence and win.”The Africans used their experience to wear down the bigger Serbs, blowing open a close game with a speedy attack led by guard Milton Barros who scored 12 points in the second period to put Angola ahead at the half, 36-26.Serbia came storming back with a 12-0 run over the third and fourth period to pull within eight points at 56-48, but the Angolans stepped up their withering defence in the final minutes to secure the win.Angola, which outrebounded the taller Serbs 44-31, was led by Olimpio Cipriano with 20 points and eight rebounds.Barros had 13 points and six steals while power forward Joaquim Gomes ended the game with 15 points.Nampa-AFP”We won the championship and we are happy about this,” Angolan coach Alberto Carvalho said.”But this was not our final goal, nor was it our goal to beat China – we have more specific goals and that is to prepare our players for the Olympic Games.”The goal of our team is to go into every game with confidence and win.”The Africans used their experience to wear down the bigger Serbs, blowing open a close game with a speedy attack led by guard Milton Barros who scored 12 points in the second period to put Angola ahead at the half, 36-26.Serbia came storming back with a 12-0 run over the third and fourth period to pull within eight points at 56-48, but the Angolans stepped up their withering defence in the final minutes to secure the win.Angola, which outrebounded the taller Serbs 44-31, was led by Olimpio Cipriano with 20 points and eight rebounds.Barros had 13 points and six steals while power forward Joaquim Gomes ended the game with 15 points.Nampa-AFP