D’Tigers Through To AAG, Nations Cup

National men’s basketball team, D’Tigers have qualified for both the 2015 All Africa Games and FIBA-Africa Championship after beating Burkina Faso 63-50 in the return leg match played at the indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium,. Surulere, Lagos on Wednesday.
.
The Olumide Oyedeji captained side had won the first leg match in Ouagadougou before coming home to seal their passage to the two competitions billed to hold in Congo and Tunisia respectively.
.
The qualifier which was the first the senior basketball national team will play in Lagos this year, saw D’Tigers winning three quarters while the Burkinabes won only one quarter to end the game 63-50 points.
.
Nigeria commenced the game with 18-10 points lead in the first quarter and added another impressive performance in the second quarter which saw them recording 14-7 win to end the first half 32-17 points.
.
On resumption for the second half, the visitors mounted pressure on the Nigerian side which saw them winning the third quarter with 15-14 points but D’Tigers who won gold at the last All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique ensured they won the fourth quarter with 18-17 points to end the game 63-50 points.
.
With the result, Nigeria is already through to the 2015 All Africa Games in Congo and FIBA-Africa Championship in Tunisia later in the year.
.
Speaking after the game, D’Tigers Coach Sami Ahmed said his boys had to rely on their defensive prowess to win the match.
.
“Let me thank everybody for these qualification tickets first, the team lack since we played the first game but we relied on our defensive effort to win the match. I am not happy that the referees were not calling the fouls but we thank God that we qualified”, says Sani.
.
Burkina Faso coach however said his team lost the match because they lacked experienced players that could have made it possible for them.