D’Tigers suffered a humiliating overtime defeat to Libya who out-fought them to win 89-82 in their first 2025 FIBA AfroBasket qualifying game at the Salle Mohamed Mzali court in Monastir, Tunisia on Friday.
With the Nigerian team arriving in Tunisia on gameday, it was perhaps not surprising that the D’Tigers were far from their best against a Libyan side, who shocked Morocco in the decisive Game 2 of the 2025 FIBA AfroBasket Zone 1 Pre-Qualifiers on Tuesday.
Coach Abdulrahman Mohammed’s side trailed the Libyans 16-25 in the first quarter but bounced back to win the second quarter 19-15.
In the third quarter, however, D’Tigers failed to build on their four-point lead as they slumped to a third-quarter loss of 20-15. In the final quarter, Mohammed’s side bounced back to win 25-15 which forced the game into overtime where they lost 12-7.
Former Saskatchewan Rattlers point guard, Mike Nuga was the most efficient D’Tigers player in the defeat as he scored 34 points eight rebounds one steal and five assists.
Bright Akhuetie also recorded the highest rebound (12) in the defeat while Devine Eke churned the most assists (8) and two blocks. Micheal Afuwape had six steals in the game.
D’Tigers, who crashed out of the Paris Olympics and the World Cup, will face Uganda in their next game on Saturday (today). Their final Group B game is against Cape Verde on Sunday.
Egypt and Tunisia were chosen as the hosts of the inaugural phase of the 2025 FIBA AfroBasket qualifiers scheduled for February 23 to 25.
Tunisia will host the inaugural games for Groups B and E, while Egypt is set to stage the games of Group D.
