Nigeria’s D’Tigers continued their impressive performance in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers with a hard-fought 62-59 victory over the National Elephants of Guinea on Saturday.
The Nigerian team, filled with home-based players, rallied back from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to come out on top in a must-win encounter against their West African neighbors.
WHAT A GAME!! D'Tigers were down 11 points in the fourth quarter and came back to win.
NIGERIA WINS!! World Cup hopes are still alive! pic.twitter.com/HC98RG4FrE
— D’Tigers | Nigeria Basketball (@NigeriaBasket) February 25, 2023
The D’Tigers, who were in confident form following their shocking defeated of the more experienced Ivory Coast side on Friday, held the Guineans to a 13-13 draw in the first quarter.
The National Elephants were much better in the second and third quarters, posting a combined 35-26 scoreline to take a nine-point lead into the final quarter.
However, coach Ogoh Odaudu’s D’Tigers looked more motivated in the fourth quarter, holding the Guineans to just eleven points, their lowest of the four quarters, while they scored 23 to win the game with a three-point difference.
Although the Guineans led the tie in 2-point percentage with 42% to 32% and free throw percentage with 75% to 48% , the Nigerians were far more impressive from beyond the 3-point arc with a whopping 42% to their opponent’s 15%.
The National Elephants also grabbed more rebounds (52-31) and had more assists (15-14), but Nigeria had more steals (17-9) and turned the ball over less, with 24 to the Guineans’ 35.
Nigeria Customs’ Michael Daramola and Kwara Falcons’ Victor Ezeh led the D’Tigers with 16 points apiece, with the latter scoring 16 points or more for his second game in a row, while Cheick Sekou Conde scored a game-high 25 points for the National Elephants.
The D’Tigers move to third in the Group E standings with 14 points and five wins from nine games. They will face arguably Africa’s best team, Angola, in the next game on Sunday at 6pm WAT.
