Nigeria D’Tigers stun Croatia to produce biggest upset at Rio Olympics

– Nigeria D’Tigers have a slim chance of making it to the quarterfinals at the Olympics after defeating Croatia

– Nigeria defeated Croatia 90-76 to improve to 1-3

– Nigeria will have to beat hosts Brazil in their last game and wait for results elsewhere if they are to make it to the quarterfinals

African champions, Nigeria D’Tigers produced the biggest upset at the Rio Olympics to earn a first win at the basketball tournament at the expense of Croatia.

Nigeria defeated Croatia 90-76 to improve to 1-3 and keep their hopes of advancing to the quarter-finals alive.

The Nigeria team after a disappointing first game defeat to Argentina, stepped up their game in subsequent matches but narrowly lost to Lithuania and Spain.

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African champions, Nigeria D’Tigers produced the biggest upset at the Rio Olympics to earn a first win at the basketball tournament at the expense of Croatia.

However, they came back with a bang and outscored the Croatians 22-11 in the second to take a 43-39 half-time lead, despite going behind 28-21 at the end of the first half.

Shooting from all cylinders, Michael Umeh hit 5-of-8 three-pointers for 16 points first half points.

Nigeria’s impressive shooting from long range continued in the third quarter as they hit 4-of-7 attempts and saw their lead reach 50-35 when team captain, Ike Diogu connected from beyond the arc.

An 8-0 run spanning the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth enabled Croatia to cut the deficit to single digits, 70-61. They would get within 74-71 on a Bojan Bogdanovic free-throw with 4:14 left to play but down the stretch Josh Akognon and Ebi Ere hit clutch three-pointers to secure the impressive win.

Nigeria win over Croatia see the Europeans dropping to 2-2 and it’s now all to play for D’Tigers who can make it through to the quarter-finals with a win over Brazil in their last game, pending results from other games.

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