NIGERIA continued its quest for a World Championship ticket at the ongoing FIBA Africa Championship in Benghazi, Libya, when the D'Tigers beat South Africa 97-49 in the second Group B game.

The Nigerians dominated the game and won the first quarter 28-6 to set the stage for the routing of the South Africans. Despite coming back strong in the second quarter, the South Africans still fell to Nigeria 23-18. Scores at half time stood at 51-24 in favour of the D'Tigers.

Any hope of a comeback for the South Africans was dashed in the third quarter as the Nigerians once again won 27-13 to stretch the lead. The last quarter also panned out in the same fashion with Nigeria winning 19-12 to the admiration of the 2,500 fans that watched the game. Point guard Chamber Ogwuchi, who got eight points in Nigeria's opening game victory over Cote d'Ivoire, scored 20 points to emerge Nigeria's highest points scorer in the game.

Ejike Ogbuaja had an impressive 13 rebounds while Michael Umeh had five assists. South Africa's Christopher Gabriel had 13 points, Fusi Mazibuko had six rebounds while Lindokhule Sibankule had two assists.

With this victory, the Nigerian team has maximum four points from two matches and will face host, Libya, in the next game, which promises to be a thrilling affair. The John Lucas II-led team will hope to continue its winning streak as it hopes to secure one of the three slots to the World Championship in Turkey next year.

In some other games played yesterday, Senegal defeated Central Africa Republic 82-69, Mali beat Mozambique 67-54 while Cameroun defeated Congo 70-56.

Tools