Olympics: D’Tigers Lose To Brazil, Crash Out Of Rio
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Nigeria’s D’Tigers hope of reaching the quarterfinals of the men’s basketball event at the Rio Olympics, hit a brickwall on Monday as they were beaten 86-69 by Brazil, which eliminated them from the competition.
The Nigerians needed a win against the host to stand a chance of making it to the last eight, but despite showing some signs of exploit by winning the first quarter, the African champions ran out of gas and lost the remaining three quarters at the Carioca Arena 1.
D’Tigers won the first quarter 16-15 as Alade Aminu, Ike Diogu, Uzoh Ben, Chamberlin Oguchi were all at their best as Nigeria dominated proceedings.
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Brazilian point guard Raulzinho Neto, kept D’Tigers on check as the hosts made 18 turnovers against Nigeria’s 11 to rally to a 42-31 lead at the end of the second quarter.
The host continued their fine form in the third quarter, winning it 59-52 as the combination of Chicago Bulls Felicio Cristiano and Houston Rockets forward Nene, ensured the Nigerians did not get more opportunities to shoot from the centre.
The Brazilians produced a total 10 steals against Nigeria’s in the last quarter to finish 86-69 in their favour.
The defeat ended D’Tigers hopes and prevented them from becoming the first African team to win two games at the Olympics.
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Meanwhile, Brazil will be hoping Argentina defeats Spain later on Monday as they via to join their South American neighbours, Lithuania and Croatia among the teams to qualify from Group B.
The USA, France, Australia and Serbia advanced to the quarterfinals from Group A.
