Nigeria’s Under-18 Men’s Basketball team, the J’Tigers have been sent packing from the 2024 Afrobasket U-18 Championship, following their 81-70 loss to Mali in the quarterfinals on the night of Thursday, 12 September, 2024.
The Malians, who took the fight to their Nigerian counterparts from the onset of the game, won the first quarter 23-19 and led through the break at 40-38.
All efforts by the J’Tigers to take control failed as Mali eventually won the game, which was played in Pretoria, South Africa.
To reach this stage, the Junior D’Tigers outclassed Uganda 72-61 on Tuesday,10 September, 2024 while Mali defeated Ivory Coast 73-69.
The winners and runners-up of the championship will qualify for the FIBA World Championship billed for Switzerland.
Meanwhile, the J’Tigress got through to the semi-finals on Wednesday after beating Egypt 61-56 in their quarterfinals.
Their victory meant that the Nigerian ladies would now face Uganda in the semi-final stage on the night of Friday, 13 September, 2024.
Also, the Rwanda Under 18 men’s national team bowed out of the FIBA AfroBasket 2024.
This was after their shock 53-67 quarterfinal loss at the hands of Cameroon at the University of Pretoria Gymnasium also on Thursday, 12 September, 2024.
Rwanda started brightly, claiming the first quarter 16-14, before Cameroon upped their game and fought back to win the second quarter 22-16 to go into halftime with a 36-32 lead.
