Nigeria’s D’Tigers were brought down to earth in Las Vegas on Tuesday night as they fell 69-108 to Australia, their group B rivals at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics Men’s Basketball Event.
In this exhibition game, the Nigerian senior male basketball side which on Saturday beat world leaders U.S. 90-87 failed to make it three wins in a row.
After beating the U.S., the Nigerian side had also beaten another top-ranked side, Argentina, 94-71.
The loss is the first for the Nigerian side since Mike Brown took charge in 2020.
The Australian side were efficient in a display of grit and technical prowess as they won the first quarter 26-13.
In the second quarter, they won 49-29 to take the scoreline to 75-42.
The Australians went on to win by 39 points ending the game 108-69.
They thus made it three wins in a row with Chris Gouding scoring 21 points, three rebounds and four steals, with a 100 per cent accuracy from the three-point line.
Josh Okogie and Obi Emegano led the scorers’ chart for D’Tigers with 10 points each, while Jahlil Okafor had seven points and five rebounds, and Ike Iroegbu seven points.
Meanwhile both Nigeria and Australia are billed to meet again on July 25, this time in their opening Group B game at the Tokyo Olympics.
