D’Tigers Commence 2021 Afrobasket Campaign With Victory Against Mali
The Nigeria national men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, commenced its campaign in the 2021 FIBA Afrobasket tournament on a winning note after a 81-73 victory against Mali on Wednesday at the Kigali Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.
D’Tigers came out firing in the first quarter, storming to a 28-12 lead, However, the Nigerians failed to keep that healthy lead in the second quarter as the Malians fought their way back into the game. The lead was reduced to just one point at half-time as the score was 44-43 in favour of Nigeria.
However, D’Tigers regained their momentum in the third quarter where they established a 17-point gap; finishing 71-53 to Nigeria.
In the final quarter, the Malians cut the gap but the Nigerians had done enough to secure an 81-73 victory. It was D’Tigers’ first win since beating Argentina in Las vegas, USA.
Benjamin Emelogu led the scoring for D’Tigers with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.
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Coach Michael Brown speaking after the game appreciated the depth of Nigeria’s basketball team as the Kigali contingent consists majorly of players who were not in the Tokyo 2020 squad.
“This is the first time our guys have had contact because when we started training camp we had just 8 guys so we couldn’t play 5-on-5,” Brown said in the post-game interview.
Brown said moving forward the team will work on taking care of the ball more and committing less fouls.
“When we got here the new guys were so far behind so we couldn’t play 5-on-5,” Brown added. “This is the first time that our team has seen somebody else in front of them.”
“There were times they got tired and when they got tired they got really sloppy offensively and had lots of turnovers and they got really tired defensively.”
D’Tigers will next play Kenya on Friday in Group C, before the tough encounter with Cote D’Ivoire.
Chidi Nwoke/NBBF.
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