By Toby Prince
Host, Tunisia, proved too much for the D’Tigers of Nigeria in Sunday’s highly anticipated game of AfroBasket 2015 Group A as they cruised pass the West Africans 70-59.
It was the first time the two teams faced each other since the 2012 Olympics in London where Nigeria topped Tunisia 60-56.
Playing in front of an almost sold out crowd boosted the Tunisians who played their best game of the tournament so far.
Tunisia opened the contest with a 14-0 run, and led by as many as 22 points.
Star big man Salah Mejri led by example, with 22 points and 7 rebounds.
He blocked shots, dunked, made shots from three-point range (2 for 2), dished out an assist, did the job on the boards and, unsurprisingly, was the local fans’ favourite as they cheered with every right play he made.
Ben Uzoh led Nigeria with 13 points and Michael Gbinije added 10 including two of which came off a tremendous dunk on Mejri in the third quarter.
Nigeria finished group play with a 2-1 record after defeating Uganda and Central African Republic earlier in the tournament. Tunisia, the tournament’s host, is 3-0.
The defeat mean the D’Tigers finish the group as runner up and will face the third seed from Group B on Wednesday as the tournament advances into its next round.
Group B includes Senegal, Angola, Morocco and Mozambique. The third seed will either be Morocco or Mozambique, who both are 0-2 in group play.
In a recent interview with FIBA.com, Nigeria forward Olaseni Lawal had said that “facing Tunisia was going to be an early test for them moving into the knockout round.” It turns out, Nigeria failed Tunisia’s first test.
