2017 AfroBasket: Nigeria battle Senegal for final ticket

Nigeria’s national men’s basketball senior team, D’Tigers are in for a showdown with unbeaten Senegal tonight as both sides clash in the semi-final at the ongoing 2017 FIBA AfroBasket championship.
The clash of the two African heavyweights at the Salle Omnisport, Rades, Tunis, billed for 8:30pm is being touted as final before the final by pundits given the pedigree of the gladiators.
Defending champions, Nigeria, in the quarter-final outplayed Cameroon 106-91 in the quarter-final, thanks to the heroics of Ikechukwu Nwamu who posted 25 points, four rebounds, seven assists and one steal, as well as Mbamalu Bryant and captain Ike Diogu. Nwamu, who emerged the top performer from Nigeria after the fall of Cameroon said D’Tigers are “taking one game at a time, and are prepared for the semi-finals.”
Also, Senegal on Thursday night reached the last four of the tournament for the third time in a row, as they bundled out 11-time champion, Angola 66-57 in an exhilarating game.
Senegal trailed 38-34 at the break and rose to the occasion with Gorgui Dieng as the anchor.
Louis Adams, Clevin Hannah and Maurice Ndour combined for 31 Senegal points, while Leonel Paulo finished with a game-high 17 points in the losing cause.
“Credit to Senegal, they were the better team,” Angolan centre forward, Yanick Moreira later told FIBA.basketball.
Senegal star, Dieng after the match said “Angola – they are great shooters – but we knew that their bench wasn’t very deep, so we finished the game off in the fourth quarter.”
In the first semi-final also tonight (6:00pm), undefeated Tunisia will take on Morocco in a North African affair.
The finalists at 2017 AfroBasket will represent Africa at the 2018 World Cup in Spain.
Morocco centre forward, Soufiane Kourodu is optimistic about the ability of his team to stop Tunisia tonight.
“When we are on the court, we play our hearts out for our country, and that’s what we are going to do against Tunisia,” Kourodu told FIBA.basketball.
“We will try our best, after all, it’s just a game of basketball. Hopefully, we will do something special on Friday.”
The final of the 2017 AfroBasket holds on Saturday in Rades, Tunis.
http://www.fiba.basketball/afrobasket/2017/news