FIBA U-21 - J/Tigers control boards, beat China

Nigeria U-21 national team held on for a thrilling 87-81 win over China on Saturday in Mar Del Plata to fuel hopes of a grabbing a place in the quarter-final round of the FIBA U21 World Championship.

Having led for three quarters before losing against Slovenia on the opening day, the African champion showed their resolve by bouncing back against the Chinese. Uchechukwu Echefu and Stanley Gumut each scored 17 points for the Nigerians, who prevailed despite playing the second half without top big man Don Nwevo with coach Sanni Ahmed choosing to rest his star because of injury. The contest was close from start to finish, with the Nigerians only managing to stay close because of their decisive rebounding advantage.

Nigeria grabbed 46 boards, 27 on the offensive end, to just 27 rebounds overall for the Far East giants. "The decisive factor in the game was the rebounding," said China coach Min Lulei. "If you give away 27 offensive rebounds, you can not win a game." As for China, their three-point shooting put them into a position to win the game. They poured in 12 of 29 (42%) shots from behind the arc, with Meng Da four of six (67%) and Wang Yong three of five (60%).

"This was a great game," Ahmed said. "China has excellent shooters and we had to concentrate in defence on that fact." Nigeria appeared to lose their focus against Slovenia in the fourth quarter, but they kept their concentration for 40 minutes on Saturday. The coach is optimistic about his team's chances against Puerto Rico, who lost their opener to Lithuania, and the possibility of reaching the last eight. The only African team to reach the quarter-finals previously was Angola in 1993 when they beat Korea 75-72 to accomplish that feat. "

Puerto Rico is a very strong team, but there are no easy games in this championship," Ahmed said. "We just have to stay focused." Echefu said: "I really enjoyed this game. It was very intense and we were able to keep that intensity until the end." The Chinese now have a mountain to climb if they are to reach the quarter-finals as they lost their opener against the United States. Attacking the boards with more ferocity is their number one objective.

"We definitely have to get better on the boards," Wang said, "otherwise we will not have a chance in this championship." Nigeria, who shot just 36% from the field (26 of 73), will be hoping to have Nwevo back for the Puerto Rico clash. He played 13 minutes and grabbed five rebounds. "He started for us and he is very important to us, but he has a slight injury and we have decided to keep him on the bench to protect for the remainder of the championship," said Ahmed. Latest Results ARG - GRE 59-63 CAN - AUS 71-88 PUR - SLO 71-50 USA - LTU 103-83 NGR - CHN 87-81 ISR - IRI 20-0 (Walk-over)