U-18 Afrobasket Championships: Nigeria’s J’Tigers bow out in quarterfinals, J’Tigress advance

Nigeria’s Under 18 Men’s Basketball team, the J’Tigers are out of the 2024 Afrobasket U-18 Championship, following their 81-70 loss to Mali in the quarterfinals on Thursday night.

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.

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.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports thT the result meant that the Nigerian ladies would now face Uganda in the semi-final stage on Friday night.

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 University of Pretoria Gymnasium also on Thursday.

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 half-time with a 36-32 lead.

In the second half, Rwanda bounced back to win the third quarter 17-15, but Cameroon dominated the last quarter 16-4 to send them packing.

The result meant the Cameroonians progressed to the semifinals.

Despite struggling to shoot from the floor, Cameroon’s Amadou Seini scored a team-high 15 points and 23 rebounds, while Hermann Bel Daryl Bay contributed 15 points.

Rwanda’s Dylan Kayijuka poured in game – 19 points, while Sean Mwesigwa added 12 points.

Rwanda still have to play a classification game for the 5th to 8th positions.