Basketball in Africa

The 2007 African Nations Cup for basketball hits the quarter finals stage today with The Tigers taking on Cape Verde for a semi finals ticket. The Tigers got to the quarter finals as winners of Group C after three wins over Liberia (139-35), Central African Republic (77-54) and Congo on Sunday (90-74).
Their Cape Verde opponents in today's fixture billed for 18.00hrs local time (7pm Nig time) qualified from Group A behind Angola but ahead of Morocco and Rwanda.
Even though the Nigerian team got to the venue of the championship ill-prepared and without cash they still look good enough to scale over the West African islanders unto the next stage. Basketball followers on the continent have voted the Nigerians to win.
An assistant coach to team and as well a player to the last Nations Cup in Algeria Julius Nwosu told THISDAYSport from Huambo, Angola that they are doing everything possible to make a serious impact at the championship.
"The set back we have now is chemistry because we didn't arrive here as team. But we are blending gradually and taking everything quickly in our strides. We understand that the challenges become tougher as we move higher but we are putting in our best and hope to leave proud of our achievements," Nwosu said.
In the first quarter finals match, Angola will take on Central African Republic who finished behind Nigeria in Group C. The game is for 1300hrs. In other games Egypt will face Tunisia while Cameroon battle Cote d'Ivoire for the next stage ticket.
The Senegalese who got Sam Vincent to coach them after the American parted ways with Nigeria were the surprise losers from the first round. The 1997 champions lost out to Egypt and Cote d'Ivoire in a group seen as the toughest mixture of the first round.
The Tigers have reached at least the semi finals since 1995 in the biennial competition except in 2001 when they finished fifth in Morocco. They were runners-up in 1997, 1999, and 2003.