Uganda’s qualification campaign to the 2025 FIBA AfroBasket is officially back on track following a 72-62 win over Nigeria on Saturday afternoon in Monastir, Tunisia.
Robinson Opong, as in the Qualifier to the Quarterfinal of the 2021 AfroBasket, was devastating from behind the arc to lead the Silverbacks to the crucial win that not only lifts their confidence ahead of the tie with Libya on Sunday but gets the team an important two points and a positive points-difference.
Opong went 8-of-16 from long range en route to a 39-point explosion and pulled down 10 boards to lead the Silverbacks past very errant D’Tigers.
No other Silverbacks scored in double digits. Emmanuel Womala (9), Adam Seiko (7), Brandon Ssebirumbi (6), and Titus Odeke (6) were the only other notable contributors to Uganda’s total.
The opening quarter of the game was rough on the eye but vivid enough to show that Nigeria were going to struggle on the day as they shot terribly and turned over with little or no pressure. Silverbacks were not doing any better at shooting but had a 12-7 lead at the end of the ten minutes.
The game started to open up a bit in the second quarter and Opong started to settle into his office as the Silverbacks started to pull away into a double-digit lead that ballooned to 16 points early in the third quarter before the Nigerians trimmed it down to single-digits later when Mondy Juruni turned to his bench.
The Ugandans would restore their double-figure lead in the fourth quarter before Juruni nearly emptied his bench with Edgar Munaba getting a run for the first time.
Devine Eke scored a team-high 19 points in a losing effort for the D’Tigers, Mike Nuga had 15 points while Bright Akhuetie netted 9 points to go with a game-high 16 rebounds.
The Silverbacks take on Libya on Sunday afternoon, 4:00pm (EAT).
