Uganda’s Silverbacks are through to the quarterfinals of the FIBA AfroBasket after securing an 80-68 victory of Nigeria’s D’Tigers.
The Nigeria men started Tuesday’s game poorly; having a 12-point deficit at the end of the first quarter which was won by Uganda 24-12.
Arthur Kaluma opened the second quarter scoring for Silverbacks who went on an 11-2 run to lead by 21 points. D’Tigers however rallied back and went into the halftime break trailing by 13 points (31-44).
D’Tigers cut the deficit to 9 points early in the third quarter but a flurry of good plays from Uganda restored a double-digit lead midway through the period. Silverbacks’ lead hovered above 13 points before closing the period leading by 19 (67-49).
Though D’Tigers took the last quarter 19-13, it was too little too late to keep them going at the Afrobasket tournament as Uganda finished with a healthy 80-68 win.
Before Tuesday’s tie quarter-final playoff clash, Uganda and Nigeria had faced each other three times over the past six years.
Uzodinma Utomi scored game-high 23 points in a losing effort for Nigeria. Jeremiah Mordi (12 points) and Ikenna Ndugba (10 points) were the other Nigerians to score in double figures.
The Silverbacks will now take on Cape Verde in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
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