FIBA W’Cup qualifiers: D’Tigers bounce back from Cape Verde defeat with win over Mali

Nigeria men’s basketball team, D’Tigers bounced back from their defeat to Cape Verde on Friday to win against Mali on Saturday.

The Coach Julius Nwosu men were stunned by Cape Verde in the opening game of the World Cup qualifying series following a surprise 79-71 loss.

But rallied to win their second outing after piping Mali 72-70, to keep themselves in the race for a spot at the 2023 World Cup billed to hold in Australia.

Ike Diogu was the star man for Nigeria with his 19 points, six rebounds, and two steals.

Omotayo Jordan Ogundiran also made 19 points-three of five from outside the paint with three assists and three rebounds.

Read Also: D’Tigers crash out of Afrobasket after shock loss to Uganda

Uzoh added 11 points while Tarekeyi Andrew Edogi added seven from the bench.

Diogu made the first scoring of the game and won a tight first quarter 16-15.

The Malians came back strongly in the second quarter 24-14 but the Nigerians steadied the ship with 23-16 and 19-15 wins in the third and fourth quarters to take the win by two points and give the team a chance to make it into the next round of the qualifiers.

Nigeria sealed the win as Christopher Ewaoche Obekpa made a successful block on N’faly Kanoute with eight seconds left on the clock.

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