Nigeria’s Under-18 Men’s Basketball team, the J’Tigers, were knocked out of the 2024 Afrobasket U-18 Championship following a hard-fought 81-70 defeat against Mali in the quarterfinals on Thursday night in Pretoria, South Africa.
Mali took control early in the game, securing a 23-19 lead in the first quarter and maintaining a slim advantage at halftime, 40-38.
Despite efforts by the J’Tigers to rally, they could not overturn the deficit, and Mali sealed the win.
Prior to their exit, the Junior D’Tigers had advanced to the quarterfinals after a commanding 72-61 victory over Uganda, while Mali had narrowly defeated Ivory Coast 73-69 in their own quarterfinal match.
The winners and runners-up of the tournament will qualify for the FIBA World Championship set to take place in Switzerland.
On the other hand, Nigeria’s U-18 Women’s Basketball team, the J’Tigress, secured a spot in the semifinals after defeating Egypt 61-56 on Wednesday.
They will now face Uganda in the semifinals on Friday night.
In other results, Rwanda’s U-18 Men’s Basketball team also bowed out of the tournament after a surprising 67-53 loss to Cameroon in their quarterfinal match, held at the University of Pretoria Gymnasium.
Rwanda started strong, winning the first quarter 16-14, but Cameroon fought back to take a 36-32 lead into halftime.
Despite Rwanda’s third-quarter resurgence, Cameroon dominated the final quarter 16-4, sending Rwanda out of the competition.
Cameroon’s Amadou Seini contributed significantly to the victory, scoring 15 points and grabbing an impressive 23 rebounds, while Hermann Bel Daryl Bay added 15 points.
For Rwanda, Dylan Kayijuka led the team with 19 points, supported by Sean Mwesigwa’s 12 points.
Rwanda will now compete in classification games to determine their final standing between 5th and 8th positions.
(NAN)
