Liberia’s representatives at the 2018 FIBA Africa Zone 3 Tournament, the Harbel Pointers, may have failed to win a single game in the tournament, but their star Davidson Samuel can walk in Liberia as a proud man after finishing as the tournament’s third best player.

Samuel proved to be one of the tournament’s top player as his performances went high above his teammates’. He introduced himself to the tournament during the Harbel Pointers’ second game of the tournament against Elan Sportif of the host country, Benin.

Following an 82-62 win over Niger’s AS Police in their first match, Samuel came stronger in their second game with a career-high 31 points, eight rebounds, and three steals. However, his efforts weren’t enough to rescue the Pointers from going down 64-78 to Elan Sportif.

The Pointers’ hopes of getting their tournament back on track with a win against the Civil Defenders of Nigeria were dashed in limbo as they suffered a nine-point 70-61 loss to the Nigerians.

In that game, Samuel and teammate Ijiba Joel both scored 17 points each. In addition to the points, Samuel added 12 rebounds, along with Joel’s four rebounds.

The Liberian side again bowed to a third successive defeat against the River Hoppers of Nigeria, ending their hopes of them playing in the finals. A 17-point winning margin saw the Hoppers edging out the Pointers 80-63 to record four straight wins.

The Pointers’ final game turned out to be another disappointment, with Ghana’s Braves Customs bouncing back to victory to deny the Pointers a second victory.

Harbel won just one out of five games played, but Davidson Samuel walked out as one of the tournament’s most outstanding players. Samuel, who also plays football for third division team Pepper FC, finished as the third most valuable player in the tournament, behind Onyebuchi Vincent of the River Hoppers and Elan Sportif’s Akpatchi Romario.

Head coach Sam Theophilus Wilson said he was proud of the team’s performances in the competition, despite the disappointing results. While blaming some of his team’s defeat on poor officiating, he said Harbel will come back stronger in the tournament.

“This is a big tournament and we need referees who are on top of the games. Some if the callings were strange,” Wilson said after the tournament.

“I’m proud of my boys. We played against experienced teams and pulled out [a] good fight. We will learn from our mistakes and come back stronger.”

The 2018 FIBA Africa Champions Cup for Men was hosted in Contonu, Benin between Dec. 2-10.

Six teams participated in the qualifiers with 15 games played in total. The six participating teams included the River Hoppers and Civil Defense of Nigeria, the Braves Customs from Ghana, the Harbel Pointers from Liberia, Elan Sportif from Benin, and AS Police from Niger.

Featured photo courtesy of Davidson Samuel