Nigeria’s D’Tigers beat US in China tourney

D’Tigers beat Team USA 75-70 in their first game of the ongoing friendly tournament in China.

The Nigeria senior men’s basketball team left the country on Monday for China on a playing tour of games which began this week and will end on October 20.

The team failed in their quest to pick a slot for the Paris 2024 Olympics during the qualifiers held in Lagos last August but are on one of the several developmental programmes of the Nigeria Basketball Federation board led by Musa Ahmadu-Kida.

It is the second time the Nigerian men’s team have emerged victorious over the Americans, having stunned them 90-87 in a pre-2020 Olympics exhibition game at Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas in 2021.

Reacting to the victory, Vice President, the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Babs Ogunade, said it was progress in the right direction.

“It was a good victory because we are building a team and this is a step in the right direction,” he told our correspondent.

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“The win over the US doesn’t mean much, but it is good that we are encouraged and we know that we are making progress consciously as we need to do, but it is not a measure of anything that we beat the US. It’s a basketball game and we should enjoy the moment as we keep improving on the current set of players.

“The tour in China is an invitational tournament with a lot of teams and this victory is good for the players psyche, but we shouldn’t get carried away with it.”