Congo Find Their Touch, Rout Central African Republic for Zone 4 Bronze

A day after one of the ugliest shooting nights of the tournament, Congo rediscovered their range and ran away with the bronze. The Republic of Congo controlled the Zone 4 third-place game from start to finish, beating the Central African Republic 83-62 at the Polideportivo de Malabo to claim third place in the FIBA U18 AfroBasket qualifiers.
It was a far cry from Congo's semifinal, when they had shot just 22 percent and managed only 46 points in a loss to Chad. This time they jumped out early, taking the first quarter 18-12 and then suffocating the Central Africans in the second, holding them to eight points to lead 36-20 at the break. The Central African Republic matched them in the third, but the margin was already too wide, and Congo poured it on in the fourth to close out a comfortable win.
Two of Congo's strugglers from the semifinal bounced back emphatically. Roland Patience Goma, who had shot 4-of-20 against Chad, led the way with 21 points on far tidier 7-of-13 shooting, including four three-pointers. Paul Yann Bonanga, whose 1-of-21 nightmare had defined the semifinal, found a different route to 20 points getting to the free-throw line a remarkable 26 times and converting 14. Anchoring it all was Isaac Michel Mouangui, who posted a monster double-double of 15 points and 19 rebounds with four assists. As a team, Congo lived at the stripe, attempting 52 free throws and making 27.
The Central African Republic were undone by the same problem that has dogged them all week: turnovers. They coughed the ball up an enormous 34 times and shot just 2-of-17 from three-point range. Paul Othny Israel Marida was efficient with 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting in barely 20 minutes, and Grace a Dieu Stomny Irving Olona added 21 of his own, but the giveaways and the cold perimeter shooting left them no path back into the game.
The result leaves Congo third and the Central African Republic fourth in Zone 4. The competition's real prize remains on the table in the final between Chad and Gabon, with the winner claiming the zone's lone berth at the 2026 FIBA U18 AfroBasket in Cote d'Ivoire.