Cape Verde shut down Nigeria for second time to improve to 2-2

 

KIGALI (Rwanda) - There was palpable fear on the bench of Cape Verde when Nigeria levelled scores at 64-64 with 3:24 minutes left on the clock followed by a one-point lead courtesy of a Uche Iroegbu's second free-throw made.

But Cape Verde was in their mental elements on the opening day of Window 3 of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers as they took a 79-70 win over Nigeria in Kigali. 

It was Cape Verde's second straight win over Nigeria in Group A of the current African Qualifiers. The islanders beat the winners of the 2015 African Champions last November in Angola.

 
Despite starting at a slow pace that saw them concede the first quarter 15-14, the team propelled by Ivan Almeida took control from the second quarter and maintained a 10-point lead to keep Nigeria's Chimezie Metu, Ikenna Ndugba as well as Christian Mekowulu at bay.

Almeida had the most efficiency for Cape Verde with a +25 but Cape Verde need to thank Walter Tavares for contributing 15 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks. Tavares' performance was followed by Almeida's 14 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals to help their country improve to 2-2.

But the biggest difference between the two sides was the way Cape Verde dominated the boards with their 53 rebounds against Nigeria's 40.

Cape Verde led by as many as 15 points at some point in the game, but Nigeria fought back later in the fourth quarter to take a 65-64 lead with 3 minutes left.

Things looked shaky for Cape Verde when Tavares fouled out with 1:39 minutes, but Almeida and Co never panicked to extend their winning streak against Nigeria to 3-0 dating back to the 2013 AfroBasket. 

Nigeria can only blame themselves for the loss, especially because of their modest free-throw performance (14 for 22).

"I thought our guys did a really good job, fighting back to get the lead after being down double digits - 13, and 11, twice down 10 -. In a game like this you don’t have very much margin for error," Nigeria head coach Alan Major admitted.

Last November, Almeida was the only player to have scored 10+ points for Cape Verde in each of their three games in the World Cup qualifiers; he also grabbed at least seven rebounds in each of his three games in the competition.

Cape Verde are now in a confident mood and will look forward to the other two games against Uganda and Mali with great expectations.

Nigeria on the other hand had Christian Mekowulu to applaud for leading the side with 13 pts, 13 rebounds, 1 steal.

The power forward said it was saddening for Nigeria to drop the game but insists that more practice time would do the team a lot of good going forward.

"We wanted to make this game different but unfortunately we lost. Cape Verde made us work and we had lots of turnovers. That game is gone and we can only look forward to the other games. We're in good stead and will get better with those games," he said full of enthusiasm.

Nigeria had to put up a team hurriedly after the government made a U-turn that saw them return to international basketball.

FIBA