Following a 75-68 victory over Sahara Conference hosts AS Douanes in the Basketball Africa League at Dakar Arena, the Nigerian representatives were eliminated (BAL). Kwara made a good start, but Douanes came back with the support of the home crowd, leading 41-35 at the break. They had gotten ahead and were up 59-47 at the end of the third quarter.
Mouhamadou Diagne’s string of blocks caused the crowd to go wild as Douanes pulled ahead early in the fourth quarter, but Kwara’s late comeback allowed them to win by a more respectable margin.
The Nigerian team lost for the fourth time in a row in the competition in Dakar, Senegal. They began the competition with a crushing loss to Renew Energy Group (REG) of Rwanda before falling to Stade Malien and US Monastir of Tunisia back-to-back.
AS Douanes’ hopes of repairing their damaged reputation were destroyed as they lost all four quarters (17-20), (35-41), (47-59), and (68-75), which means they are no longer in the competition.
Michael Oriakhi bemoaned his team’s lackluster preparation for the contest despite their tragic elimination.
“I believe that Nigeria has to play more games during the season. You get better at games as you play more of them “explained Oriakhi.
We’ll have more games when we return, so we should do so with a stronger team.
