Rwanda was defeated by the D’Tigers of Nigeria 75-69 in their third qualification game for the 2027 FIBA World Cup.
The Nigeria’s D’tigers left it late in an intense match to aim an overtime victory over the Rwanda professional basketball team at the Salle Multidisciplinaire de Radès, Tunisia, on Sunday.
The match victory was D’tigers first win in three games of the qualification series after losing to Tunisia and Guinea in their previous games.
It has been claimed that Nigeria’s male basketball team performed very poorly in their first two games of Group C of the qualifiers, with cheap turnovers and lacklustre defence and offence. The D’tigers initially continued the abysmal form in the opening minutes of the match against Rwanda and lost the first quarter 21-12.
Notwithstanding, the performance of the Nigerian basketball team only improved in the second quarter, and the margin was reduced to 27-25 by halftime.
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Nigeria’s D’Tigers’ sensational performance carried into the third quarter, and they finally wrested the lead from the Rwandans 45-36. But the lead was surrendered again in the final quarter as Rwanda forced the match into overtime.
Nigeria grabbed a vital 6-point during the added minutes and won to keep their qualification hope alive. The team seats third in the group with one win in two games.
In the group, all three teams will play one another again for the second phase of the qualification round.
The terms of this phase is that the top three teams from the group will qualify for the final round.
And in all, the top five African teams will qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, scheduled for August 27 to September 12.
