Nigeria representatives, Civil Defenders have booked their place in the Elite 8 of the FIBA Africa Basketball League following a 62-58 win over host Elan Sportif in Cotonou on Sunday.
Defenders emerged winners over Elan for the second time in their second meeting in front of their home crowd.
Ocheibi Okpe, Ibe Agu and Umar Garba all combined for 43 points against Elan. Okpe had 16 points, 16 rebound double double, Garba added 14 points and five rebounds while Agu scored and six rebounds for Defenders.
Defenders were able to curb Elan on the offense with 39 defensive boards made as compared to 29 made by Elan.
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The Nigerian side took a 10 point-lead going to the final quarter 60-50 which was later trimmed down to 4 after they were outscored by Elan 18-12.
Garba had another opportunity to stretch the lead with 12 seconds remaining after winning a foul but missed both free throws which was not well utilised by Elan who missed a three-pointer after the rebound.
Vivien Tossou scored 11 points, the only player on double figures for Elan Sportiff in the entire game.
The following teams are the qualified teams in the Elite 8
AS Sale (Morocco)
Civil Defenders (Nigeria)
ES Rades (Tunisia)
JS Kairouan (Tunisia)
Primeiro de Agosto (Angola)
Petro Atletico de Luana (Angola)
Smouha (Egypt)
Al Ahly (Egypt)
