TheCable

D’Tigers have been knocked out of the 2021 AfroBasket championship after losing 80-68 to Uganda in the round of 16.

The team failed to bounce back from their 77-68 defeat to Ivory Coast in the final group game on Sunday.

Mike Brown, D’Tigers head coach, maintained the same starting five which include Ikenna Ndugba, Emmanuel Omogbo, Benjamin Emegolu, Stephen Domingo, and Daniel Utomi.

The Nigerians were shocked by the tenacity of the Ugandans, who won the first quarter by 12 points as it finished 24-12.

The second quarter saw D’Tigers’ quest to wrestle the match prove futile as they went down 20 points to Ugandans at some point before cutting it down 10 points. 

The Ugandans, however, stretched it back to 13 points to lead 44-31 by halftime.

Uganda also held firm through the third quarter and stretched the lead to 18 points.

The final quarter wasn’t any different for the Nigerians as the Ugandans buried the match and sealed a place in the competition’s quarter-finals with an 80-68 victory.

The result and premature ouster weren’t expected by the Nigerian team that came into the tourney hoping to better the silver medal won in Tunisia in 2019.

The attention of the Mike Brown-tutored boys must now shift to the first round of the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers, where they have been drawn against Mali, Uganda and Cape Verde in group A.