By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Despite an impressive start in the tournament and a win over Spain, Croatia was beaten by Nigeria (90-76) and couldn’t seal its ticket to the quarterfinals.
With the victory, the African champions improved to 1-3 to keep alive their hopes of advancing to the Quarter-Finals. Croatia, meanwhile, dropped to 2-2.
Croatia led 28-21 at the end the first quarter but Nigeria outscored them 22-11 in the second to take a 43-39 half-time lead. Michael Umeh hit 5 out of 8 three-pointers for 16 points first half points.
Nigeria’s hot shooting from long range continued in the third quarter as they hit 4-of-7 attempts and saw their lead reach 50-35 when big man Ike Diogu connected from beyond the arc.
An 8-0 run enabled Croatia to cut the deficit to single digits, 70-61 at the start of the last period. They would get within 74-71 on a Bojan Bogdanovic free throw with 4 minutes left to play but couldn’t get any closer.
