August 29, (THEWILL) – Angola defeated Nigeria 70-67, to finish the first round of Group E in Abidjan, increasing their chances of qualifying for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
Following victories over Uganda, Cape Verde, and Nigeria in Window 4 of the African Qualifiers, Angola successfully completed a group stage clean slate.
Angola’s coach, Jose Claros Canals, started Gerson Domingos, Childe Dundao, Jilson Bango, Leonel Paulo, and Bruno Fernando to take on the firepower of D’Tigers, showing that they came out prepared. In the end, with 12 points each, Bango and bench player Gerson Gonçalves finished as Angola’s top scorers.
In the Sunday’s game, there were five ties and seven lead changes. Four ties were recorded in the first quarter alone, and Nigeria took the lead 29–27 after a defensive second quarter. But, Angola took advantage of every opportunity provided by Nigeria’s poor ball handling and errors to pull ahead, 44-44, in the third with Dundao and Bango impressing.
Even though Nigeria made sporadic three-point attempts from Amanze Egekeze and drives from Chimezie Metu and Josh Okogie, Angola’s defence stayed steadfast and Nigeria could not find the extra points before it finished 70-67.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
