Bunmi Ogunyale
African champions, Nigeria’s D’Tigers have finished tops at the first phase of the FIBA Afrobasket qualifiers in Kigali, Rwanda.
The Mike Brown and Alex Nwora lads on Sunday defeated their Malian counterparts 91-68 points in their third game of the series. Nigeria lost the first quarter 13-16, but rallied to beat the Malians by 26-15, 22-20 and 30-17 in the final three quarters of the tie. Nigeria topped her group with six points having defeated South Sudan by 91-68 points and hosts Rwanda by 83-62 points in the first two games. Mali has four points in her kitty, while South Sudan and Rwanda got three and two points respectively.
To date, Angola has won the most titles, triumphing 11 times in 29 editions. Egypt and Senegal both have five titles to their credit.
The teams that have achieved qualification for the Final Round of FIBA AfroBasket 2021 will compete in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers.
