Uganda’s Silverbacks are through to the quarterfinals of the FIBA Afro Basket after beating Nigeria 80-68.
The Silverbacks grabbed the game right from tip-off, shooting the ball well from beyond the arc to start, and assumed a 12-point (24-12) lead at the end of the first quarter.
By; Zawedde Patricia
On August 30, 2015, Nigeria lifted its first-ever AfroBasket title in Rades, Tunisia. In that same tournament, D’Tigers had destroyed then debutant Uganda 98-59. On August 31, 2021, and it was a completely different ball game with the ‘Silverbacks’, equipped with a highly talented squad, dominating the former African champions from start to finish.
Arthur Kaluma opened the second quarter scoring for Silverbacks who went on an 11-2 run to lead by 21 points. D’Tigers however rallied back and went into the halftime break trailing by 13 points (31-44).
D’Tigers cut the deficit to 9 points early in the third quarter but a flurry of good plays from Uganda restored a double-digit lead midway through the period. Silverbacks’ lead hovered above 13 points before closing the period leading by 19 (67-49).
Nigeria started the fourth quarter with two unanswered three-pointers from George Domingo (13 points) forcing Uganda’s head coach George Galanopoulos to call a time out. In return, D’Tigers extended the run to 8-0 but a couple of 3s from Robinson Opong settled some nerves and the East Africans were back on track to victory.
Opong scored team-high 19 points shooting 60% from 3-point range. Ishmail Wainright delivered another masterclass performance with a triple-double of 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists.
Arthur Kaluma and John Deng Geu contributed 11 points each while Adam Seiko had 10 points in the historic win that put Uganda in the last eight on the continent for the first time.
