D’TIGERs secured their second win at the 2021 AfroBasket on Friday by beating Kenya 71-55 in Kigali, Rwanda.
The win, which followed Wednesday’s victory over Mali, took the Nigerian team close to an automatic quarter-final ticket.
D’Tigers started in dominant form, winning the first quarter 20-8.
Kenya fought back in the second quarter, outscoring Nigeria 18-14 to end the first half 34-26.
Uzodinma Utomi poured in 17 points to lead D’Tigers in scoring, while
Jeremiah Mordi contributed 10 points and five rebounds.
TK Edogi added nine points, four rebounds and one assist while Jordan Ogundiran had nine points with an impressive 75 percent field goal conversion.
D’Tigers coach Mike Brown stated that despite the two wins, his team still needs to improve.
“I think we had some good shots offensively today that didn’t go in but our effort was inconsistent offensively and I thought that was what hurt us more,” he said at the post-game press conference.
Brown said the team played better in the second half despite a good defensive effort from Kenya.
“When defense stiffens up, we get tighter or better,” the American noted. “All we have to do is drive the basketball. When we drive the basketball, the defence will collapse and if we are unselfish, which the guys have been most part, we make the right pass and the floor is spaced, we are going to get good shots offensively.
“We don’t want people to believe in us. We believe in us and that is all that matters. We haven’t played well. We played better in the second half though, I thought as a team. Even in the first game we did not play real good and we played better in the first game than the second game.
“We can be better, we believe in ourselves and we believe we can continue to get better as the tournament goes along.”
D’Tigers will play Côte d’Ivoire on Sunday in their final group game.
