The Junior D’Tigers on Sunday edged a spirited Guinea side 54-53 to finish third on the final day of the FIBA U-16 Africa Basketball Championship in Praia, Cape Verde.
The team started the game brightly, shaking off Saturday’s semi-final defeat to Mali, taking the game 20-10 in the first quarter but the momentum watered down in the second as they could only get three points as the Guineans fought back to take the second quarter 13-3 to end the first half tied 23-23 points.
The third quarter ended in favour of the Guineans 14-11 but a comeback in the final quarter of the game saw the Nigerians take the game 20-16 to win the game by one point 54-53.
Head coach of the Junior D’Tigers Fubara Onyanabo said, “I am excited, it was a very tensed game and I could not take my eyes off the board in the final quarter because the Guineans kept coming at us but the boys held their nerves for the win.
“I am disappointed we didn’t get the World Cup ticket, we tried our best and I am sure we will do better next time. It goes to show that with proper preparation, Nigeria can do better at these competitions.”
With the result, Nigeria matched their best performance at the tournament. The country finished third at the maiden edition in 2009.
In the final match, Egypt dethroned defending champions Mali to win their fourth title of the U16 championship and will head into the 2020 U-17 FIBA World Cup in Sofia, Bulgaria as Africa champions.
Junior D’Tigers shooting guard, Farouk Isah, made the list of the top five players at the tournament alongside Diallo Ibrahima of Guinea, Abouzied Moamen of Egypt, Sangare Youssef of Mali and Egypt’s Ahmed Abdullah.
Nigeria’s Reuben Chinyelu also scooped the individual award of the tournament’s highest rebounder with a total of 112 rebounds, Abouzied Moamen beat Nigeria’s Precious Ikpe to the best three-pointer award, scoring 23 times and also winning the tournament’s MVP while Ivory Coast’s Moulare Assemien scored the most points of the tournament.