By Victor Kanayo
After succumbing to Senegal defeat, Nigeria’s men National basketball team, D’Tigers, are now at edge in their quest to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifier when they face Mali later on Tuesday.
This became evident after they lost 87-93 points to Senegal in their opening pre-Olympic qualifier clash on Monday in Lagos.
Huge Disappointment
D’Tigers playing in front of a packed crowd at the Eko Convention Center left the fans disappointed after their women counterpart beat all odds, including conquering Senegal to triumph at the just concluded Afrobasket tournament in Kigali, Rwanda.
At the first pre-qualifier match, D’Tigers kicked off the encounter on a strong note, but five-time Afrobasket champions Senegal were able to go on a late run to finish the first quarter losing 25-26 to Nigeria.
The Senegalese improved their performance in the second quarter, leading D’Tigers 46-44 going into the halftime break.
A thrilling end to end stuff played out in the third quarter as D’Tigers were able to fight their way back to take a 68-67 lead.
Senegal went on a run that changed the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter to take a healthy point advantage. D’Tigers responded but were unable to get on level terms as Senegal finished the game 93-87.
The Nigerian side will now need to overcome resilient Mali in their second group game to stand any chance of progressing to the next round of the qualifiers.
