Nigeria’s D’Tigers were out rebounded in a 65-110 loss to New Zealand in their first Group B game at the Cairns Convention Centre, Gold Coast, Australia.
Thomas Abercrombie led the way for New Zealand with 21 points and 4 rebounds to go with it. Jordan Ngatai added 16 points, Finn Delaney 14 points while Robert Coe and Rusbatch Ethan both contributed 12 points each.
New Zealand built a 15 point lead heading to the break (50-35). At the resumption of the second half, D’Tigers still couldn’t find their rhythm as it got worse with a 15-0 run (35-62) which eventually ended (43-81) at the end of the third quarter.
D’Tigers were totally outrebounded (58-33) and were also outscored in all four quarters especially the third (31-8). D’Tigers Captain , Ike Diogu could only manage to score 12 points and 7 rebounds, Azuoma Dike had 15 points while Yakubu Istifanus added 10 points.
Nigeria will next play Canada who also lost 95-55 to host Australia at the Cairns Convention Centre on Saturday.
