Nigeria on Tuesday night crashed out of the ongoing FIBA Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament following a second consecutive 77-68 defeat in a game against Mali and the head Coach, Ogoh Odaudusays he takes the blame for it.

D’Tigers that lost their first match to Senegal on Monday failed to redeem their image against a Malian side many taught would be an easy prey for Nigeria.

Like the game on Monday night against Senegal, D’Tigers began the game on a winning note taking the first and second quarters at 17-15 and 26-23 but lost steam in the third quarter with score 18-15 and were simply clueless in the last quarter managing to score only 7 points as Mali took it at 24-7.

Uche Iroegbu scored a game high 26 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in the game while Daniel Utomi added 16 points but it no enough to save Nigeria from a second defeat in the tournament.

Though, the game witnessed 10 lead changes, Mali were the better side as Nigeria’s rebounds were simply poor with Mali dominating the paint recording 28 points to 20 while scoring 18 points from second chance shots while Nigeria managed only 8 points.

Speaking on the game, Coach Ogoh Odaudu while accepting responsibility for the loss noted that a lot of factors contributed to the poor performance of the team.

“There’s no explanation for the result against Mali. We did all we had to do but the game is about winning and didn’t get that. I take the blame for this ouster. The losses to Senegal and Mali were not supposed to be because these were games we ought to have won. We had too many mistakes and our decisions were poor. We didn’t prepare properly for this tournament and had only two scrimmages coupled with the fact that we hadn’t time to practice on the court we used. However, we must move on and hope that the Federation will get things done better.”

Uche Iroegbu on his part had this to say; “It’s unfortunate we lost and fell short. When you loose, you take a look back to see where you have gone wrong and work towards correcting the flaws and where to improve on.”

Malian Coach, Kaba Kante while commending his team for their resilience noted that they had to get the job done.

“We knew we were playing against the host who were under pressure to win. So, took the game to them and forced them to play our own game. That worked for the result and us is what you see. Our force is our next game and I can tell you that we’re not afraid of Senegal in the next game.” (Daily Sun)

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