FIBA U21 - Slovenia survive against Nigeria

The African side, the last team to arrive in Mar del Plata on Thursday after a long and tiring bus ride from Buenos Aires, played tough defence and led 31-26 at half-time.

Their biggest advantage was 10 points, but Ante Perica's Slovenians battled back to take an important win.

The European team moved in front for the first time at 44-42 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, though,

and grabbed a stranglehold on the Group B game with five and a half minutes remaining when Domen Lorbek, the younger brother of Climamio Bologna star Erazem Lorbek, buried a three-pointer for a 54-47 lead.

Lorbek would end up scoring a game-high 17 points.

Nigeria plagued by foul trouble with one player already out of the contest with five fouls, were unable to mount a fightback.

Not surprising considering the early stages of the tournament, both teams committed a lot of turnovers.

Slovenia lost the ball 25 times while Nigeria turned it over 27.

"We really struggle with the temperatures here, it is too cold for us," said Nigeria coach Sanni Ahmed, who also praised his team's opponents.

"Slovenia had a very great and tough defence," he added.

Nigeria's Lawrence Don Nwevo said: "We did our best but the game was very tough. Slovenia strengthened their presence in the second half and finally could pull away."

Slovenia star Sasa Zagorac, who had 13 points, admitted: "We were very nervous. We knew that Nigeria is a very athletic team and the game would be tight."

"The game was very difficult for being the first of the championship," he said.

"Every team is trying to adapt to the new environment: the new arena, the new balls, the temperature.

"It was a nervous start for both teams, which probably explains the big number of turnovers.

"Maybe it was not a high quality game. It was a very tough game and we are happy that we won the game."

Abubakar Usman had 11 points to lead Nigeria, while Stanley Gumut weighed in with eight.

Day-1 results.

SLO vs NGR 63-54

CHN vs USA   50-117

AUS vs GRE    94-81
 
 LTU vs PUR   97-81

ISR vs ARG  58-71

 
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