South Sudan makes World Cup history

The South Sudanese basketball team has taken home a slice of history, becoming its nation's first team to earn a victory at a major World Cup.

The Bright Stars defeated China by 20 points in a clash that featured NBL24 rostered talents Sunday Dech, Junior Madut and Majok Deng, as well as NBL23 players Deng Acuoth and Zhou Qi.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">POV: you get your first World Cup win ever ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIBAWC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIBAWC</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WinForSouthSudan?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WinForSouthSudan</a> ?? <a href="https://t.co/USxYhnZpnV">pic.twitter.com/USxYhnZpnV</a></p>&mdash; FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 ? (@FIBAWC) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBAWC/status/1696104887803953641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Reigning NBA G-League MVP Carlik Jones once again led the way for South Sudan and finished as the side’s top scorer with 21 points and 11 assists. Former Cairns and Sydney forward Kuany Kuany added 16 points of his own.

The victory comes just two days after South Sudan’s heartbreaking overtime loss to Puerto Rico.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">?? HISTORY! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WinForSouthSudan?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WinForSouthSudan</a> <a href="https://t.co/UeqPz9GN4Y">pic.twitter.com/UeqPz9GN4Y</a></p>&mdash; South Sudan Basketball (@SSBFed) <a href="https://twitter.com/SSBFed/status/1696105222769430641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

They play Serbia in their final group clash.