Croatia suffer tough defeat against Nigeria

Sunday, 14. August 2016 at 05:34

Not good. Instead of booking a ticket for the knockout stage, Croatia got defeated by Nigeria and endangered their place in the quarterfinals of the Rio 2016 basketball tournament.

Not good. Instead of booking a ticket for the knockout stage, Croatia got defeated by Nigeria and endangered their place in the quarterfinals of the Rio 2016 basketball tournament.

Croatia had a great start of this match. The boys coached by Aco Petrović won the 1st quarter by 28:21, but then their defense just fell apart. Nigeria scored 49 points (22+27) in the 2nd and 3rd quarter combined and went in front at 70:56!

Still, there were 10 minutes more to be played in this game, and Croatia still believed in a comeback. They reduced the margin to 74:71, but could not come any closer. A former player of Partizan NIS Josh Akognon scored a three-pointer and started another major run of his team. At the end Nigeria managed to return to +14, 90:76.

In the final round of the group stage, Croatia will face Lithuania, while Nigeria will play against Brazil.

Olympic Basketball Tournament, Group B, Round 4, Sunday, 14.8. 2016:

Croatia - NIGERIA 76:90 (28:21, 11:22, 17:27, 20:20)
Bogdanović 28, Ukić 10; Umeh 19, Akognon 18.

Standings:
TEAM
WINS
DEFEATS
POINTS
Lithuania 3 1 7
Argentina 3 1 7
Croatia 2 2 6
Spain
2 2 6
Nigeria
1 3 5
Brazil 1 3 5

(Photo: FIBA)


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