By Albert Akota
D’Tigers will no longer be playing any part at the 2021 FIBA Afrobasket following their 68-80pts loss to Uganda on a cold yestetday evening in Kigali.
All hopes were centred around a win against Uganda for a guaranteed spot in the quarterfinals after failing to top their group and gain an automatic quarter final place on the back of a loss to Côte d’Ivoire.
The number one team in Africa started on the back foot very early in the quarter final playoff clash as they failed to close down rampaging Uganda who shot the lights out from the three point line to open a 12 point advantage heading to the second quarter.
Uganda started where they left off in the second quarter as they once again dominated Nigeria to head into half time 44-31pts while Nigeria continued to grapple with the reality on ground.
The team failed to deal with Robinson Opong who scored 6 treys from 10 attempts to close out the game with 19pts, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
A disappointed Mike Brown said it was an honour to have contributed his quota to basketball development in Africa through Nigeria.
He regretted the inability of his wards to go farther in the competition while blaming FIBA Africa for putting the team in a tight spot with their decision to go ahead with the competition just immediately after the Olympics.
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