D’Tigers failed to make it three wins out of three on Sunday afternoon when they squared up against Cote D’Ivoire, losing 68-77 in the final group game of the ongoing 2021 Afrobasket in Kigali, Rwanda.
D’Tigers head coach, Mike Brown named an unchanged starting XI from the first two games but this time, Nigeria lost by 9 points having started the game on the back foot.
It was an all round below par performance for the 2015 Champions who were poor both in defence and on the attack on the day.
Despite having three players Emelogu (13 points), Utomi (12 points) and Edogi (10 points) record double figures D’Tigers were poor with their shooting recording less than 30% (8/27) accuracy from behind the arc, 40% (4/10) from the free throw line, 50% on two point shots (20/40) and about 42% (28/67) field goals in general.
D’Tigers had a slow start to the game losing the first quarter by 9 points (11-20) but bounced back to take the second quarter 23-19. D’Tigers then lost the third and fourth quarters narrowly by 2 points each as Cote D’Ivoire emerged group winners.
By virtue of this win, the Ivorians get a straight ticket to play in the quarterfinals while D’Tigers will play a qualifying game for a spot in the last eight having won their first two games against Mali and Kenya.
Image: Fiba.com
