Nigeria suffered a second defeat at the ongoing FIBA Basketball World Cup, falling 81-94 points to experienced Argentina, but Coach Alex Nwora remains hopeful that a win over Korea on Thursday can see Nigeria through to the second round.
Though the Nigerians put up a spirited effort ending the first half 43 points apiece against the fifth rated team in the world, it was not enough given the scores in all the four quarters 17-28, 26-15, 18-29, 20-22.
Josh Okogie was the top performer for the team with 18 points, five assists and two rebounds.
Jordan Nwora scored 12 points, two assists and caught three rebounds during the 20.51minutes he spent on the court, while Al-Farouk Aminu put in a good shift defensively for the team with eight rebounds and three points
Speaking during the post match press conference, Head Coach, Alex Nwora, said he was proud of the team and that D’Tigers lost to a better side despite battling hard to grind out a win.
Nwora said that it was not the result the boys wanted, but that in basketball, losing and winning were all part of the game.
“I’m proud of them. We battled for our lives, we battled back for a better deficit, unfortunately we fell short in some areas.”
Nwora said the D’Tigers team is a young team and have not played together for a long time compared to most teams competing at the World Cup.
He said attention will now be focused on the last group game against Korea as the search continues for the win.
“We have played very good teams that have a good culture of basketball. They have been together for about 15 years. That is a fact. My team gave their best. We will get better as a team going forward. All hope is not lost because we still have Korea to play on Thursday.”
