LUANDA (Angola) - Nigeria took to the court with a sense of urgency, determined to win.
D'Tigers could not have asked for a better opponent than Guinea with which to test their newly assembled roster.
Nigeria's hard-earned 80-79 win over Guinea was well-deserved.
Job is not done, we still have a lot of work to do - David Vanterpool
They dominated the first half, outscoring their opponents by 11 points, contesting every Guinea possession and forcing four turnovers in the opening three minutes. They capitalised on these with seven points.
Nigeria went into the break with a six-point lead (46–40), having not led at any point in the opening twenty minutes of the game.
However, Guinea showed why they had reached Friday's game with a perfect 4–0 record, playing aggressively and leaving Nigeria helpless.
After chasing them for the entire first half, Guinea forced Nigeria to take their medicine with an aggressive defence, taking their first lead when Sekou Doumbouya completed a play to make it 49-48.
To make matters worse for Nigeria, Shannon hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to give Guinea a 68–62 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Do you think Nigeria were hurt? They did, but only for a little while, as they saved their best until last.
With Guinea leading by one, Uche Iroegbu drove to the paint and found Chimezie Muti in the right spot to score the winning basket. Guinea had three seconds to respond, but the day belonged to Nigeria, who have now improved to 3–2 with one game remaining. Guinea dropped their first game of the current campaign. Guinea are now 4-1.
Nigeria assistant coach David Vanterpool on his team's effort, saying: “They were able to fight together, fight in frustration; they were able to stand a good Guinea team, coming back and take an eleven-point lead and still get off the floor and get the win. I just give a lot of credit to our guys; they showed so much heart, resilience, determination and togetherness."
Caleb Agada did a bit of everything for Nigeria, leading the former African champions with his 22 points, three rebounds and four steals.
Uche Iroegbu and Kaodirichi Akobundu - the other Nigerians to score in double figures - contributed 10 and 14 points, respectively.
Former Detroit Pistons Sekou Doumbouya led Guinea in scoring with 23 points , while their lethal guards Shannon Evans and Souleymane Jr. finished with 18 points apiece.
"Our goal was to come here and win three games. Job is not done, we still have a lot of work to do; We are going back to the drawing board to continue preparing this team," Vanterpool explained.
Agada added: “After the game yesterday [against Tunisia], we had a players-only meeting and one of the emphasis was to come out with energy and play with pride."
Nigeria are aiming to return to a world stage competition for the first time since the 2021 Olympics.
FIBA