Nigeria’s D’Tigers suffered a second defeat at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as they lost 92 – 99 to Germany in the early hours of Wednesday.
Both teams lost their first game to Australia and Italy respectively and battled hard from the start to assert authority in the contest.
They were levelled 50-50 at half-time and tied 74-74 at the end of the third quarter.
D’Tigers, however, collapsed in the fourth quarter as they blew an 11- point lead.
The Nigerians attempted a comeback in the final minutes of the fourth quarter but were thwarted by the sturdy Germans.
Newly crowned NBA champion, Jordan Nworah of Milwaukee Bucks, was Nigeria’s best player on the court as he finished with a game-high 33 points.
The other best player for the D’Tigers on the night was Miye Oni, who finished the game with 15 points.
Although a top-two finish now appears dim for Nigeria, all hopes of a quarterfinal ticket aren’t entirely lost for the African champions.
They would, however, have to beat Italy in their final group match and hope other results go their way to either finish second in Group B or as one of the best third-placed teams to secure a place in the quarterfinals.
