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Nigeria's Basketball team D'Tigers have remained one of three African top countries undefeated on the way to the FIBA BASKETBALL WORLD CUP 2019 in China.
At the end of the first phase of the African Qualifiers in Maputo and Bamako, Nigeria emerged one the three undefeated National teams to scale through.
By beating Mali- hosts of the first-leg of Group B of the African Qualifiers - 82-59 in front of a home crowd, Nigeria improved their mark to 3-0, and, as a result, joined Tunisia and Angola as the only teams yet to lose a game in the race for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China.
Over the course of three days, the former African champions cruised past Uganda, Rwanda, and Mali in Bamako by an average of 33-point wins margin.
In the first match, D'Tigers of nigeria beat Uganda by 102 to 86 points.
Next came Rwanda which also crashed by 108 points to 53 while hosts Mali was also beaten by 82 to 59 points all in group B. Inspired by team captain Ike Diogu and Michael Efevberha, Nigeria closed Group B's first-leg with three wins in as many games while Uganda, Mali, and Rwanda finished with a 1-2 record each.
Star players standing performances after three matches rated
Nigeria's Ike Diogu the captain with 53 points as third best scorer.
Next comes Michael Efevberha standing at number 7 with his 47 points after 3 matches, while Obi Emegano with his 42 points stands at 13th best scorer.
In Group D played in Maputo, Senegal beat the hosts 60-52 points while the Central African Republic denied Cote d'Ivoire 63-62 in overtime.
Senegal and Mozambique share the lead of the group a 2-1 record each while CAF and Cote d'Ivoire closed the group's first-leg with a 1-2 record apiece.
Last November, current FIBA African champions Tunisia defeated Cameroon, Chad, and Guinea to stay perfect in Group A, while Angola got the better of Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, and Morocco in Group C.
The third window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers returns in late June, early July for the second-leg of Groups A (Tunisia), B (yet to be confirmed), C (Egypt) and D (Senegal).
There are five tickets on offer for the continent's countries to reach the first-ever 32-team FIBA Basketball World Cup taking place in China from August 30th in 2019.
