Guinea put six games to rights on Saturday, beating Cameroon 90-67 in the World Cup. The hosts threw bodies in the way from the start and never let up, closing the game out with a margin that left the visitors searching for answers.
By then the pattern was set. Guinea found a rhythm that Cameroon could not match, and the away end never stopped but it was too late. Cameroon won a handful of offensive rebounds and tried to work from there, but they were caught in possession too often and the wheels came off.
Guinea made the difference with their shooting. They hit 16 three-pointers to Cameroon's six, and while Cameroon managed 27 field goals, they could not convert them into enough points. The hosts also took care of the ball better, committing just eight turnovers to Cameroon's twelve.
The statistics tell the story, though the numbers alone do not. Guinea and Cameroon both finished with 42 rebounds, but Guinea won the defensive battle with 33 to 27. Cameroon pulled more offensive boards—15 to nine—but could not turn them into sustained pressure. Both sides recorded six blocks each, and the steal count barely moved: four for Guinea, five for Cameroon.
Cameroon had been winning before this, beating Tunisia and Nigeria in their last two games, but that price has gone now. Guinea, meanwhile, are running out of games and they did not let this one slip. The table goes out of the window in these games, but a win like this changes the conversation.