Nigeria’s senior men basketball team, D’Tigers, overcame the stiff challenges of their West African opponents, Cameroon, who they saw off by 91-84 points on Sunday night in Abidjan, finishing the Group D preliminary round of the ongoing Afrobasket championship with a group-leading 0-3 record.
Ike Diogu made 25 points and 15 rebounds to lead the winners while Alade Aminu came up with 22 points, Ben Uzoh and Al-Farouq Aminu added 12 points each for D’Tigers.
Nigeria raced into the lead with four straight points to snatch a 24-18 lead after the jump ball.
Late in the second quarter Cameroon’s Lux Mbah a Moute put the Lions in front 39-40 to relinquish the lead from their opponents, going into half-time.
Both teams played catch-ups throughout the duration of the third quarter before Cameroon finally went on a 10-0 run to gain a 52-61 lead.
Nigeria’s D’Tigers trimmed the deficit by three points as scores read 62-65 at the final break. With two minutes remaining, Cameroon maintained a one point lead with scores settled at 81-82 before Al_Farouq Aminu scored a three pointer to earn Nigeria the lead.
A Moute leveled up scores at 84 but Nigeria answered with 7 successive points to eventually snatch victory.
The defeat was Cameroon’s first in the tournament as A Moute and Christian Baying replied with 20 points each for Cameroon
