BASKETBALL:Nigeria’s basketball team, D’Tigers, recorded one of the biggest upsets at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympics on Saturday night as they defeated Croatia 90-76 to win their first match in the basketball event at the Games.
The Nigerian side, who are African champions, had lost their first three matches against Argentina, Lithuania and Spain.
The coach Will Voigt team’s victory against Croatia keep their hopes of qualifying for the quarter final alive.
The Nigerian team took a 43-39 half-time lead, despite going behind 28-21 at the end of the first half.
Shooting from all cylinders, Michael Umeh hit 5-of-8 three-pointers for 16 points first half points.
Nigeria’s impressive shooting from long range continued in the third quarter as they hit 4-of-7 attempts and saw their lead reach 50-35 when team captain, Ike Diogu connected from beyond the arc.
An 8-0 run spanning the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth enabled Croatia to cut the deficit to single digits, 70-61.
They would get within 74-71 on a Bojan Bogdanovic free-throw with 4:14 left to play but down the stretch Josh Akognon and Ebi Ere hit clutch three-pointers to secure the impressive win.
Nigeria win over Croatia see the Europeans dropping to 2-2 and it’s now all to play for D’Tigers who can make it through to the quarter-finals with a win over Brazil in their last game, pending results from other games.
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