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Nigeria’s D’Tigers returned to winning way on Sunday claiming a 100 – 84 win over Cape Verde in the FIBA World Cup African Qualifiers.
The victory lifts Nigeria to 5-4 and keeps them on track in pursuit of a return to the World Cup with three more qualifying games to play.
“We needed that win to stay in the fight and give ourselves a chance. I told the guys if we get to five wins we are within striking distance of qualifying in the next window,” Nigeria’s coach David Fizdale said.
Caleb Agada netted 26 points, going 8-for-11 from 3-point range, and made 6 assists. Josh Okogie had a near triple double, with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assistscoupled with 4 steals.
Efe Obogidi went 3-fo-4 on 3-pointer and perfect on the line for 11 points while skipper Ike Nwamu contributed 14 points.
“I was really happyfinally we made 3s beacuse we just couldnt make shots the first two games,” Fizdale said.
Okogie, who was part of the Nigeria team in their last World Cup in 2019, is pleased they are still in the fight to return to the global showpiece despite losing thefirst two games of the window.
“You never feel good after a loss but you never play as bad as you think you played and you never play as good as you think you played. I think this team has done a great job this window.
“Obviously 1-2 is not the result we wanted but at the end of the day we are not completely out of this; we are within striking distance.
As long as there is life and just having that nigerian blood we can get this thing done,” Okogie said.
