By Okechukwu Emmanuel
Nigeria’s D’Tigers kick-started their campaign to a dream start at the Rwanda 2020 AfroBasket qualifiers in Kigali with a 76-56 victory over South Sudan yesterday.
D’Tigers coach, Mike Brown named Ike Iroegbu, Ike Diogu, Obi Emegano, Keith Omoerah, and Mike Gbinije as his starting five in the Group D encounter.
Nigeria won three of the four quarters to beat South Sudan, who replaced withdrawn Algeria in the competition, with Caleb Agada leading the D’Tigers with 16 points, while Iroegbu followed him closely with 13 points.
The 1st quarter ended 22-17 in favour of D’Tigers but they (D’Tigers) pulled further away in the 2nd quarter with a 24-12 blowout.
South Sudan won the 3rd quarter by 20-15, but the Nigerian side nullified that charge with a 15-7 score in the final quarter (4th) of the game.
Nigeria were the most effective from the three-point line, shooting 40 percent to South Sudan’s 15 percent, but the South Sudan side had greater joy in the paint, making 37 percent of their shots as against 33 percent for the Nigerians.
D’Tigers’ Captain Diogu, who made a return to the team, said in the post-match press conference with Sports 247 after the win, that he was happy that the team got the win, especially because the players were coming together for the first time and that they had limited time to prepare for the tournament.
“Practice time had been limited. This is actually our first game, so it is good to get our feet wet and get some live competition”, he concluded.
D’Tigers’ Coach Mike Brown who met most of the Nigerian players for the first time this week and is also coaching in Africa for the first time, described the experience as an ‘exciting one’, he also commended the efforts of his players.
He said, ” The guys we have here are fantastic individuals and obviously they are good basketball players”.
The Coach also spoke about the experience of playing against a team coached by a player (Luol Deng), which he used to coach in his time at Cleveland Cavaliers.
