Nigeria’s senior men’s basketball national team, D’Tigers made it three wins out of three games on Sunday, as they defeated Mali 91-68 points in their last match of the 2021 African Basketball Championship qualifiers in Kigali, Rwanda.
Megasportsarena.com reports that the perfect run in effectively put Nigeria in the summit of Group D ahead of the next phase of the qualifiers scheduled for February next year.
Though Mali won the first quarter, 16-13, they lost their rhythm in the second quarter 26-15pts as Nigeria headed into the break with a 39-31 points lead, D’Tigers’ captain, Ike Diogu led from the front as he powered the team to its third victory with 14 points, 5 rebounds to emerge D’Tigers’ top performer.
Nigeria’s new coach, Mike Brown made some tactical improvements when the second half resumed, with the team winning the third and fourth quarter (22-20, 30-17) no thanks to some sloppy play leading to series of turnovers which the Malians paid for dearly.
Nigeria’s point Guard, Ike Iroegbu continued his sterling performance and consistency for the team, scoring an amazing 17 points, 4 steals and 6 assists, while Obi Emegano and Keith Omoerah combined to score 23 points on a night that the team confirmed its superiority.
Despite the heroics of Ibrahim Djambo who sank 22 points and 5 rebounds, it was not enough to stop the determined D’Tigers team who had their eyes fixed on their third straight win after defeating South Sudan and host-Rwanda.
D’Tigers were favoured to win, following their opening two victories against South Sudan on Thursday and the host country, Rwanda on Saturday, thereby putting Mike Brown’s side in pole position for a third straight win on Sunday.
Sunday’s game came barely 24 hours after the Nigerian squad, who have already qualified for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, defeated hosts, Rwanda 83-62 in their second Group D game on Saturday.
D’Tigers, who commenced their qualifying campaign with a 76-56 victory against South Sudan, went romping from the word go in their second match of the competition, as they took the first quarter 22-13 and dominated the second quarter 25-15.
Although the Rwandans edged the third quarter 24-19, the Nigerians took control again in the fourth, in which D’Tigers came out tops 17-10, thereby putting themselves into buoyant mood ahead of Sunday’s last group game against Mali.
On Sunday, Ike Iroegbu led the team in scoring with 17 points in just over 23 minutes while Obi Emegano had another terrific outing with 12 points and five defensive rebounds in about 26 minutes.
Emmanuel Omogbo led in both offensive and defensive rebounds with eight, though Ben Uzoh pulled down eight defensive rebounds, as the team improved slightly in their three-point shooting, which dropped to 30 per cent against Rwanda.
D’Tigers also improved to just about 32 per cent against Mali – being successful in 10 of 32 attempts, and Uzoh said during the post-match press conference that the team was pleased because of their feats, adding: “We had a goal, we had a strategy and we were able to execute that strategy to reach the goal.”
Brown admitted he was happy that the players stayed concentrated till the end, and submitted. “We are learning to play all 40 minutes. We have to figure out ways to score easy baskets. With nobody defending you, everyone should be a decent free throw shooter and so to have a team step up and shoot.”
