Nigeria’s Junior D’Tigers have hit the end of the road at the ongoing FIBA U18 Afrobasket Championship in South Africa, following an 81-70 defeat to Mali inside the University of Pretoria’s Rembrandt Hall on Thursday.
The joint-record winners with six titles will not be adding to their laurels this time around as they fell to their West African neighbours, who continue to maintain their perfect record in the competition with four wins in as many games.
Nigeria started the game on the front foot with a 23-19 lead after the first quarter. However, Mali soon responded, winning the second quarter 21-15 to enter the halftime break with a two-point lead.
The third quarter, which was filled with a lot of turnovers from both sides and fuelled by a great defensive display, went to the Junior D’Tigers with a 15-14 score, setting the tone for a nerve-racking fourth quarter.
The Malians just seemed better on the day and their inspired form ensured they took the game, with a dominant fourth quarter display, which saw them take the round 27-17 and put the game to bed.
Isaac Ezekiel led the Junior D’Tigers with game highs of 24 points and seven steals, while also grabbing eight rebounds. Favour Kpee finished with 12 points, while Daubuna Dan-Mutum scored 11 points and Ekpo Bassey poured in 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds in a losing effort that will see them settle for the classification 5-8 battles.
Meanwhile, the Malians were propelled by huge performances from three of their starters as the trio of Mamadou Traore, Ibrahim Doumbia and Youssouf Traore all scored 17 points apiece with the latter grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds in a double-double display.
Another starter, Mamadou Diarra, scored 14 points in about 26 minutes of action, while Sekou Bagayoko added 12 points, four rebounds and six assists off the bench.
Fubara Onyanabo’s Junior D’Tigers will now face Egypt next in their Classification 5-8 tie on Friday, in a rematch of their opening Group B game which the Egyptians won.
For Mali, their next obstacle is West African neighbours Senegal in the semifinals, with the game also a rematch of their Group A encounter which the Malians won.
