Laberecke » eRozan hit his first four shots and Lo

BATA, Equatorial Guinea - Unfancied Republic of Congo went top of Group A at the African Cup of Nations with a surprise 1-0 win over Gabon on Wednesday after host Equatorial Guinea and Burkina Faso played out a 0-0 draw.The Congolese ground out a victory — their first at the tournament in over 20 years — that will re-energize their campaign, with Prince Oniangue poking in from close range early in the second half and against the run of play.The result was unfair, Gabon coach Jorge Costa said, as the Gabonese did most of the attacking and couldnt find a finishing touch to follow up their impressive win over Burkina Faso in the first round of games.Football is like this ... When you make mistakes, you lose games, Costa said.The loss dropped Gabon to second in the group, with Equatorial Guinea third and Burkina Faso, the 2013 finalist, last. But just three points separate the top team from the bottom team ahead of the final round of games.Still, Republic of Congo is in a good position to make the quarterfinals after qualifying for the African Cup for the first time in 15 years. Its last appearance in the quarters was in 1992. It won the title in 1972.Having missed out on seven successive African Cups before this year, Republic of Congo only needs a draw against Burkina Faso in their last group game to make the last eight.Goalscorers had problems in the days first match at Bata Stadium, too, as Equatorial Guinea and Burkina Faso wasted chance after chance in their stalemate.That left the home fans frustrated after Equatorial Guinea survived waves of pressure from the Burkinabes in the first half — when Alain Traore hit the post twice — and emerged the better team in the second.Javier Balboa set up two clear chances for his teammates, but both were wasted. Equatorial Guinea now has a tough assignment against Gabon in the last round of matches to try and claim a place in the quarters at its tournament.It was a bad day all round for the local fans, with some of them clashing with riot police outside the stadium around the time Equatorial Guineas game was kicking off.Equatorial Guineas preparations for the African Cup have come under scrutiny after it had just two months to organize the tournament following Moroccos late withdrawal as host. The tournament had been going OK, but some fans tried to force their way into Wednesdays game, according to witnesses, when they clashed with police near a gate at the outer perimeter of the stadium complex.Ticket control at the main Bata Stadium — where the final will be held on Feb. 8 — appeared to be slack, with ticket machines closer to the stadium not functioning and fans able to wander in and out of them without tickets being checked.___Gerald Imray is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GeraldImrayAP Air Max 720 Australia Sale . -- The NFL cancelled its Hall of Fame game between St. Cheap Wholesale Air Max 720 . The 18-year-old centre was the Senators first-round pick (17th overall) in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. The six-foot 196-pound native of Salmon Arm, B. http://www.cheapairmax720australia.com/. Ferrer will play Mikhail Youzhny on Sunday after he defeated Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 6-4 in an all-Russian semifinal. "Youzhny is a good player," Ferrer said. Cheap Air Max 720 Australia . Sam, who joined the Cowboys in early September, has spent the entire season on the practice roster. Air Max 720 Outlet Australia . He was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 5th. The 34-year-old Laval, Que. native has played six seasons with the Penguins. TORONTO -- Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey knows his starters can not play the entire game. But after Sundays loss to the Denver Nuggets, he probably wishes they could. The Nuggets reserves came off the bench to outscore their Raptors counterparts 72-16 as Denver pulled away in the fourth quarter for a comfortable 112-98 win before 16,290 fans at Air Canada Centre. "Our bench has got to give us something," Casey told reporters after Toronto (6-10) lost its third straight. "Our guys (starters) cant play for 48 (minutes), so weve got to get production from our bench. "The guys coming in have got to develop a toughness, a resilience of getting stops. And, it starts on the defensive end. In the second half, they shot it well but we didnt make them feel us." The 72 bench points conceded is the worst in Raptors history, exceeding the 69 points surrendered to the Chicago Bulls in a loss on Jan. 25, 2006. Diminutive guard Nate Robinson led the way for Denver (10-6) with 23 points off the bench. The 5-foot-9 veteran hit five three-pointers on the afternoon, including back-to-back shots from beyond the arc with just over two minutes to go, as the Nuggets coasted to their sixth straight win. In addition to Robinsons team-high 23 points, three other Denver players had double-digit point totals off the bench, including Timofey Mozgov with 16, Darrell Arthur with 14 and Jordan Hamilton with 10. Rudy Gay led the way for the Raptors with 23 points. Jonas Valanciunas had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Finishing 1-3 on their longest home stand of the season, the Raptors now head out West for the next week, visiting the Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers. "Personally, Im frustrated. Period," said Toronto guard DeMar DeRozan, who finished with 17 ppoints.dddddddddddd "Weve just got to figure it out and turn it around on the road. "Its correctable but we shouldnt have to keep doing the same thing over and over before we realize that we are doing something wrong. We have to understand what were doing out the gate and correct it." Casey shuffled his line-up, inserting Tyler Hansbrough into the starting rotation in place of a struggling Amir Johnson. And, the initial results were positive, as the Raptors came out flying, opening up a 15-point lead eight minutes into the first quarter on the strength of a swarming defence and some deadly accurate field goal shooting. DeRozan hit his first four shots and Lowry sunk his initial two attempts from beyond the three-point arc. But the Nuggets went on a 13-4 run over the final 3:56 of the first quarter to cut the lead to 31-25. Denver led 47-45 at the half and had a 76-72 lead after a see-saw third quarter that featured four lead changes. In addition to lamenting his bench being outplayed, Casey also said the Raptors didnt pass the ball enough. "We had only 18 assists, they had 29," he said. "And, thats where it starts in the offensive end. "We talked about the defensive end but the offensive end, weve got to start trusting the pass." Gay said despite three straight losses, the Raptors are not getting down on themselves. "If we want to win, we have to make the right adjustments," he said. "Lets not get crazy," Gay said when asked if there might need to be some dramatic shake-up with the team. "They hit some tough shots and we made them hit some tough shots. We made them move the ball around, which is our defensive principle. We cant look at ourselves like we are just terrible. "We made some strides today but we can be better." ' ' '