D’Tigers Records Win Over Congo, Faces Tough Cameroon on Sunday

The Nigerian D’Tigers wrapped up its second game last Friday, August 23, 2013, with an 18-point win over the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but faces a tough Cameroonian team on Sunday, August 25. Alade Aminu led D’Tigers in scoring, amassing 23 points along with 9 rebounds. Ike Diogu, co-captain of the team, recorded a double-double by netting 20 points and grabbing 12 boards. Al-Farouk Aminu contributed 15 points, 3 dimes, 2 rebounds and 2 steals, while Stanley Okoye added 14 points and 2 rebounds to the win.

Team Coach, Ayo Bakare, was excited with the win over DRC, but complained about the poor officiating and physical play of the Congolese side, which cost the D’Tigers the loss of Andy Ogide to injury.  “It was a strong game, but I must say that we are happy winning our first two games….The officiating in today’s match was disappointing I must confess but that is not to remove anything from the Congolese. The game was too physical, causing a lot of injuries for my team. I just hope the officiating would improve in our next game against Cameroon. With three players down and another not too certain, we will have to adopt another strategy and see how it goes,” Bakare explained. Ogide joins Richard Oruche and Chamberlain Oguchi, two players who are yet to see minutes on the court due to injury. D’Tigers will square up against Cameroon in their third game of the 2013 Afrobasket tournament in Cote d’Ivoire on Sunday, August 25. The Cameroonian team held Mali to single digit points in each of the first three quarters of their match-up on Friday (Q1:29-06; Q2:20-06; Q3:29-05) before relaxing its defense to allow the Malians score 18 points in the final quarter. The game ended 89-35 in favour of the Cameroon team, with its star player – Luc Richard Mbah a Moute notching 16 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 assists. The Nigerian D’Tigers recorded its first win against Mali 74-59, but will need to play stifling defense against Cameroon, a team noted for its good ball movement. D’Tigers will, however, need to take care of the ball more when it plays Cameroon as it turned the ball over 24 times against DRC last Friday. The D’Tigers are currently ranked second in Africa behind Angola.