Nigeria's D'Tigers lose 78-62 to Cape Verde in 3rd 2025 Afrobasket qualifier

Nigeria's senior men's basketball team known as D'Tigers are back on the social media trends.

D'Tigers suffered an 82-89 loss to Libya in their opening game of the qualification series.

In their second group game they were blown out 72-62 by Uganda.

In their third qualification game during the February window, D'Tigers suffered a 78-62 blowout loss to Cape Verde.

D'Tigers started out hot an took the first quarter 24-16.

It was the second quarter that sparked a turnaround in the game as Cape Verde limited D'Tigers to just nine points and put up 23 to take a six-point lead to the halftime break.

Cape Verde took the third quarter 21-18 extending their lead to nine.

In the fourth quarter, Cape Verde continued their dominance 18-11 to wrap up a 16-point blowout victory.

Patrick Lima was a problem for D'Tigers as he contributed 15 points, seven rebounds and two assists in 33 minutes of action for Cape Verde.

Devine Chukwuemeka Eke contributed 31 points and nine rebounds for D'Tigers in 37 minutes of action.

Cape Verde denied D'Tigers a spot at the 2023 FIBA Men's World Cup and with this recent defeat, a spot at the Afrobasket is in jeopardy.