Nigeria’s Senior men Basketball team, D’Tigers, have again proven their commitment to defend the continental title in basketball by beating Senegal 76-71 points in a semi-final FIBA Afrobasket encounter on Friday.
Nigeria will meet Tunisia, who jointly host the competition with Senegal, having won their semi-final encounter against Morocco 60-52 points.
Nigeria’s match against Senegal was tagged ‘final before final’ by fans of African basketball and it proved its tag.
Even as Senegal made the first few droppings after the jump ball, Nigeria led the first quarter 15-12 points and won the second quarter 34-29.
D’Tigers still led 18-16 points at the end of the third quarter while Senegal managed to pick 26 points more than Nigeria’s 24 points at the end of the last quarter.
D’Tigers captain, Ike Diogu, led from the front by emerging top performer for Nigeria, having scored 17 points, 14 rebounds, one assist and a steal.
D’Tigers are expected to defend their 2015 victory on Saturday in a final match against the host, Tunisia, which will also see them book a place in the finals of FIBA World Cup. (NAN)
