Nigeria’s national men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, on Saturday in Abidjan defeated Guinea 89-70 in their second match of the FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the match played at the 3,500 capacity Palais des Sports Treichville saw D’Tigers bounce back after losing to Cote D’Ivoire in the opening fixture.
The Nigerian team started brightly, racing to a 24-15 points lead in the first quarter, the second quarter was a tie 20-20 but D’Tigers took a nine-point lead to the halftime break.
However, the third quarter proved decisive for the D’Tigers as they blew their opponents away 32-15 to establish a solid lead going into the last quarter.
Guinea took the fourth quarter 20-13 but it was too little, too late as D’Tigers ran away with a 89-70 win.
Top performers for D’Tigers include: Amanze Egekeze (14 points), Metu (12 points) and Uche Iroegbu (11 points).
The Nigerian team will wrap up their window 4 of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers with a game against Angola on Sunday.
D’Tigers are vying to pick one of the five slots for African teams at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
The 2023 FIBA World Cup in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines will hold from Aug. 25 to Sept. 10. (NAN)