Nigerian Men’s Basketball Team Eliminated From The Olympics. In another unpleasant development for Team Nigeria at the ongoing Tokyo Olympic Games, Nigerian men’s basketball team D’Tigers have been eliminated after Saturday, July 31, 2021, loss to Italy.
Nigeria fell 80-71 to Italy in their third group game of the Olympics. The loss was also their third straight in the Olympics and ended their journey in Tokyo.
The D’Tigers needed to win against Italy to stand any chance of progressing to the next round, but they had a slow start against the Europeans.
Again, it ended in Premium Tears for D’Tigers as Italy beats D’Tigers 80-71 in Tokyo Olympics
The Italians quickly ran into a 17-6 lead as they dominated Nigerians, and it continued like that for most of the first quarter.
Nigeria had many turnovers that cost them in that first quarter as Italy established a 27-17 lead.
Nigeria fought back in the second quarter and cut the lead to four points. Chimezie Metu made back to back threes to cut Italy’s lead to just one before another turnover cost them.
By halftime, Nigeria had shown enough fight.
Italy started the third quarter with a 7-0 run, but Nigeria fought back again to 45-45. By the end of that quarter, Nigeria led 63-56.
In the fourth, the Italians fought back and took the lead they maintained until the end of the game.