FIBA World Cup: Nigeria’s D’Tigers lose to Argentina

Nigeria’s men basketball team, D’Tigers, have been condemned to a second consecutive defeat at the ongoing FIBA Basketball World Cup in China as they were beaten 94-81 by Argentina on Monday.

After the opening day loss to Russia, D’Tigers were hoping they could pull off a win against their South American opponents.

However, that was not to be as Nigeria suffered another defeat at the Wuhan Wuhan Sports Center on Monday

Having lost the first quarter in Monday’s clash by 11 points (17-28), D’Tigers rallied in the second; wining it 26-15 to head into halftime tied 43-43.

On resumption of the third quarter, the D’Tigers caved in and failed to build on the momentum as they were crushed 29-18 to set up a tensed 4th and final quarter.

Minnesota Timberwolves star, Josh Okogie, scored a game-high 18 points, but it was not enough to help the D’Tigers stop the rampaging Argentina led by Patricio Garino who poured in 17 points.

The D’Tigers who had earlier lost to Russia 82-77 points on Saturday in their first group game of the Basketball World Cup will have to get it right in their last group game against South Korea if they are to stay in contention at the World Cup.

Despite Monday’s loss, D’Tigers coach, Uche Nwora, is still very optimistic about his team’s chances at the World Cup.

“I’m proud of these guys. They fought. We’re still one of the best teams in Africa but we haven’t shown it. We will with time. We still have a lot of work to do,” Nwora said.