5th July, 2012
By Bamidele Olowosagba
Nigeria’s senior national basketball team, D’Tigers upset pre-tournament favourites and world number 4 team, Lithuania early today, defeating them 86-80 points in their last group match of the ongoing FIBA-Olympic qualifiers in Caracas, Venezuela.
The Olumide Oyedeji-captained side, who earlier lost their first match to hosts, Venezuela on Monday, relied on the brilliance of Derrick Obasohan and Tony Skinn, who both netted 22 and 14 points respectively, to brighten their chances of picking an Olympic ticket as they landed in the quarter final.
Nigeria will play Greece tomorrow in one of the quarter final pairings, while the other Africa representative, Angola, who lost their last group match to New Zealand by 68-64 points, but still qualified on points difference, will play another European team, Russia.
Dominican Republic will confront Macedonia and Lithuania, who qualified with Nigeria at the expense of Venezuela from Group B, will play Puerto Rico in the last match tomorrow.