U-18 AfroBasket Championships: Junior D’Tigers bow out in quarterfinals

Nigeria’s under-18 men’s basketball team, the junior D’Tigers, are out of the 2024 AfroBasket U-18 Championship following their 81-70 loss to Mali in the quarterfinals on Thursday night.

The Nigerians were on top from the onset of the game and won the first quarter 23-19. However, they lost the second quarter 15-21, ending the first half with a two-point deficit of 40-38. They narrowly edged the third 15-14 but were blown out in the fourth quarter 27-17.

This loss was despite Oluwatemitope Ezekiel’s game-high 24 points, followed by Ibrahim Danmutum’s 11 points. The Malians used fast breaks to great effect, garnering 23 points to Nigeria’s 12.

The junior D’Tigers will now face Egypt on Friday in a classification contest. The championship winners and runners-up will qualify for the FIBA World Championship, which is billed for Switzerland.

Also, the Rwanda Under 18 men’s national team bowed out of the FIBA AfroBasket 2024.

This was after their shock 53-67 quarterfinal loss at the hands of Cameroon at the University of Pretoria Gymnasium, also on Thursday.

Rwanda started brightly, claiming the first quarter 16-14, before Cameroon upped their game and fought back to win the second quarter 22-16, going into halftime with a 36-32 lead.

In the second half, Rwanda bounced back to win the third quarter 17-15, but Cameroon dominated the last quarter 16-4 to send them packing.

The result meant the Cameroonians progressed to the semifinals.

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Despite struggling to shoot from the floor, Cameroon’s Amadou Seini scored a team-high 15 points and 23 rebounds, while Hermann Bel Daryl Bay contributed 15 points.

Rwanda’s Dylan Kayijuka scored 19 points, while Sean Mwesigwa added 12. Rwanda still has to play a classification game for the fifth to eighth positions.

NAN