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Nigeria defeat Gabon in basketball tournament

Xinhua, August 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Nigeria's senior men's basketball team D'Tigers on Thursday defeated Gabon 88-64 to qualify for the semifinals of the ongoing 2015 Afrobasket Nations Cup Basketball tournament holding in Tunisia.

The Nigerian side went into an early lead, outscoring Gabon, 23-11 in the first quarter and putting the game beyond their opponents reach, scoring 26-14 in the second quarter.

Leading Gabon 49-25 into the third quarter, D'Tigers exerted more pressures to break the challenge from the Gabonese, recording 23-9, taking the margin to all time 72-34.

The Gabonese team, however, fought back in the final quarter after pilling up several three-point shots to win the quarter at 30-16 but not enough points to challenge D'Tigers eventual victory.

Nigeria's brilliant performance did not go unnoticed by their well-coordinated team efforts as Alfarouq Aminu led the score chart with 17 points while his younger brother Alade recorded 10 rebounds.

The victory puts Nigeria in position to qualify for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics if they beat their next opponents, Senegal or Algeria. Endit