The door to the men’s basketball quarterfinal remains wide open in Group B after Nigeria upset Croatia 90-76 Saturday night to capture the team’s second Olympic victory ever.
Croatia (2-2) failed to lock up a spot in quarterfinals and now it, Brazil, Spain and Nigeria have a shot at the final two spots with one game remaining. Argentina and Lithuania will advance.
The Nigerians buried 17 3-pointers while Croatia hit just six. Nigeria also had 17 offensive rebounds.
Nigeria led by 17 late in the third quarter, but Croatia cut it to three in the fourth. Nigeria regrouped and closed the game on a 16-5 run.
Michael Umeh led Nigeria with 19 points.
Nigeria took a 43-39 lead into halftime after outscoring Croatia 23-11 in the second quarter, during which the Croatians shot just 3 for 16.
Bojan Bogdanovic led Croatia with 28.
D’Tigers lost their first game at Rio against Argentina 94-66.
Will Voigt’s then team lost their next two matches 89-80 to Lithuania and 96-87 to Spain.
Nigeria play Brazil on Monday; Croatia faces Lithuania.
