The Nigeria national men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, are back to winning ways after falling to Cote d’Ivoire in the opening fixture of window 4 of the FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers.
D’Tigers on Saturday roared to an 89-70 victory over Guinea to put their qualification quest for the World Cup back on track
After racing to a 24-15 points lead in the first quarter, D’Tigers were held by the Guineans to a 20-20 score in the second quarter.
However, the third quarter proved decisive for the D’Tigers as they blew their opponents away 32-15 to establish a solid lead going into the last quarter.
Coach Mfon Udoh’s men took their legs off the pedal in the last quarter as the Guineans finished strong 20-13 in the fourth quarter.
The late rally by the Guineans wasn’t enough to deny D’Tigers victory as the Nigerian men held off to their 89-70 ahead of Sunday’s crunch clash against Angola.
D’Tigers hope to pick one of the five tickets set aside for African teams at the 2023 world cup taking place from 25 August to 10 September in Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines.