By Kehinde Okeowo
Nigerian male basketball team, D’Tigers could not repeat their giant killing heroics in their final exhibition match against the third ranked side, Australia. They had earlier beaten world’s number one team, United States and the number four, Argentina,
The game started on a sober note with the Nigerians observing a minute silence in honour of the late Rapper, Sound Sultan, who passed away in United States recently.
In the game played on Wednesday morning in Las Vegas, Navada, United States of America, D’Tigers suffered a heavy loss, as the game ended 108-69 in favour of the Aussies who, incidentally, are in the same group with them at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Australian led in the first quarter with 26-13 points and continued to dominate the encounter in the second quarter, with the game ending 49-29 and Aussies increasing their tally by 20 points.
D’Tigers had no answer to the superior Australians, as they further increased their tally by 42 points in the third quarter, ending the round 84-46.
The final quarter didn’t bring much respite to D’Tigers, as the Australians continued to dominate the Mike Brown led side, who were only able to reduce the total deficit by 4 points. The game ended with D’Tigers losing the encounter by 39 points.
Australia and Nigeria will renew hostilities in a Group B match encounter in the Tokyo Olympics, where they are also expected to play against Germany and Italy.