11 August 2008
NIGERIA : Nigeria leads CIV to Libya
Nigeria senior men national team, D’Tigers Saturday posted a 73-48 points victory over Togo to come top of FIBA Africa Zone-3 with seventh points from four matches.
Though the Nigerian side share the same point with host Cote d’Ivoire but came first on technical ground after beating the Ivories by 65-55 points in their first meeting while it lost by 58-52 in the reverse fixture.
The last match against the Togolese on Saturday was played by the nine home-base players led by stand-in captain, Abdulrahman Mohammed after the three foreign –base players left for Nigeria Friday after helping the country to book a place at the 25th FIBA Africa Championship for Men next year.
Nigeria ranked 22nd in the world and second in Africa took a narrow 30-27 points lead into the third quarter but blew out the Togolese in the second stanza scoring a whopping 43 points in the third and fourth quarters.
The Coach Ayo Bakare tutored side will return to Nigeria Monday aboard a Bellview Airline.
Former Nigeria national team captain and newly assistant coach of the nation’s U18 men team Lateef Folami applauded the performance of the team for doing the country proud in Yamoussoukro.
“It is a good thing that Nigeria is returning to the big stage once again after a brief setback, I must congratulate the technical crew led by my former boss Ayo Bakare and the players for a job well-done.
“I hope their victories will rub-off on all our national engagement this year, Folami said.
Though the Nigerian side share the same point with host Cote d’Ivoire but came first on technical ground after beating the Ivories by 65-55 points in their first meeting while it lost by 58-52 in the reverse fixture.
The last match against the Togolese on Saturday was played by the nine home-base players led by stand-in captain, Abdulrahman Mohammed after the three foreign –base players left for Nigeria Friday after helping the country to book a place at the 25th FIBA Africa Championship for Men next year.
Nigeria ranked 22nd in the world and second in Africa took a narrow 30-27 points lead into the third quarter but blew out the Togolese in the second stanza scoring a whopping 43 points in the third and fourth quarters.
The Coach Ayo Bakare tutored side will return to Nigeria Monday aboard a Bellview Airline.
Former Nigeria national team captain and newly assistant coach of the nation’s U18 men team Lateef Folami applauded the performance of the team for doing the country proud in Yamoussoukro.
“It is a good thing that Nigeria is returning to the big stage once again after a brief setback, I must congratulate the technical crew led by my former boss Ayo Bakare and the players for a job well-done.
“I hope their victories will rub-off on all our national engagement this year, Folami said.
# posted by afrbk : 15:38
