NIGERIA crashed out of the men’s basketball tournament of the Tokyo Olympics after their third straight loss, this time to Italy on Saturday.
Despite leading by seven points into the last quarter, D’Tigers lost by nine points, 80-71.
The 2015 AfroBasket champions fought back from a 29-12 deficit in the first quarter to explode in the middle quarters (22-11 in the second, 24-16 in the third) and entered the fourth quarter up 63-57.
However, as they did in their defeats to Australia and Germany, D’Tigers folded in the fourth quarter, failing to score a single point in the first seven points.
They ended the final quarter with just eight points to Italy’s 24 as the Europeans took advantage of their sloppy shooting.
Despite the loss, D’Tigers’ Chimezie Metu had a stellar game, top scoring with 22 points and grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds and three steals.
Nicole Melo led Italy in scoring with 15 points, while Michelle Vitali had six rebounds.
