RADES (Tunisia) - Tunisia haven't lost a home game at the Salle Omnisport in Rades for over a decade, and Oussama Marnaoui and Omar Abada ensured they extended their winning streak to 17.
Tunisia's last defeat in Rades came in the semi-final of the 2015 AfroBasket tournament against Angola. Since then, however, Tunisia's results at home in Monastir have been mixed.
We wanted to win more than they did - Omar Abada
Eager to turn their fortunes around, especially after a disappointing 2025 AfroBasket campaign, Tunisia played with passion to defeat Nigeria 88–78 in overtime.
Much of Tunisia's success was due to the efforts of Oussama Marnaoui and Omar Abada, who scored 54 of Tunisia's 88 points between them.
Marnaoui and Abada — two of the most experienced players in the Tunisian squad — each scored five three-pointers as the former African champions finished with a 13-for-39 shooting rate from behind the arc.
Three such shots sent home fans into a frenzy in the closing moments of a nail-biting game. First, Marnaoui hit a shot that gave Tunisia a three-point lead (73–70) with 1:13 left in the fourth quarter.
However, Stan Okoye — the only African champion on the Nigerian roster — tied the game at 73–73 with 15 seconds left, sending it to overtime.
With 2:32 on the shot clock, Abada put Tunisia ahead 78–76, and then Marnaoui sank a three-pointer with a minute remaining to extend the lead to 83–76.
At that point in the game, Nigeria had little chance of beating Tunisia on their home court for the first time.
Although Nigeria won the rebounding battle 59-40, their turnovers proved to be their Achilles heel, with Tunisia capitalising on them to score 27 points.
Talib Zanna was Nigeria's top scorer with 22 points, while his teammate Morris Udeze was the other Nigerian to score in double figures with 10 points.
Abada played down his heroic performance, crediting a team effort instead.
"We wanted to win more than they did. Everyone contributed to the win, not just me and Marnaoui, but also Achref Gannouni and Jawhar Jawadi. Our bigs set good screens, too. It's a team win. We have to continue this way," said Abada.
"If Omar and Marnaoui play defence, they are among the best players in Africa," said Coach Tlatli.
FIBA