28th June, 2012
By Bamidele Olowosagba
Nigeria’s senior men’s national team, D’Tigers last night lost their first match at the ongoing four nation tournament in Brazil.
The Ayo Bakare led side, who in their last match recorded a surprise victory over Great Britain, lost to Greece by 88-76 points, no thanks to their defensive breakdown and a couple of forced turnovers which the Greek team capitalized on.
The European team trailed by 45-42 at half time and 64-62 at the end of the third quarter before the two teams started to share the lead back and forth in the last quarter until D’Tigers failed to execute their plays and paid dearly for it.
However, what the Greeks gave in textbook execution and flawless shooting, the D’Tigers answered in athletism and stifling defence.
The Olumide Oyedeji captained side will later today play against South American giants, Brazil, and will take on New Zealand in the last match of the tourney on Thursday.
Nigeria are using the tourney to prepare for their Olympic qualifying tournament that starts on 2-8 July, in Caracas, Venezuela