Nigeria’s men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, began their journey to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on the wrong foot after a 93-87 loss to fierce rivals Senegal in their first game of the pre-Olympic qualifiers at the Eko Hotels Convention Centre on Monday.
Nigeria raced to an early lead in the first quarter but the Senegalese fought back to reduce the deficit to just a point as the D’Tigers held a 26-25 lead.
The second and third quarters were keenly contested but Senegal took a 10-point lead midway through the last quarter with 80-7- points.
Nigeria’s late rally was too little too late as Senegal ran out with the 93-87 points win.
D’Tigers need to win their game against Mali on Tuesday (today) for a chance to advance to the next round.