Nigeria Medal Hopeful BasketBall Team (D'Tigers) tamed by Lithuania (Olympics)

Nigeria’s chances of advancing to the next round of the London 2012 Olympic Games suffered a setback Tuesday evening, as Lithuania basketball team beat D’Tigers 72-53 points in their second Group A match.

The Lithuanians, who were on a revenge mission for their loss to Nigeria’s D’Tigers during the Olympic qualifiers in Venezuela shortly before the London Games, asserted their superiority over their Nigerian opponents, leading 14-8 in the first quarter of the game.

The Nigerians heighten their game by closing the gap in the second quarter of the game, but still lost 20-19 points.

Seeing that D’Tigers were struggling to bounce back into the match, Lithuania raised their game against the Nigerian side that failed to maintain the momentum in the third quarter.

Lithuania went ahead to win the quarter 22-13, and sealed their victory in the fourth quarter with 16-13 points to win the encounter 72-53 points.

Lithuania, who snatched their first victory against Nigeria on Tuesday, lost their opening match 102-79 points to Argentina, while Nigeria defeated Tunisia 60-56 points in the first match.

With the victory, Lithuania, which has played for a bronze medal in the past five Olympic men’s basketball tournaments, is now tied with Nigeria at 1-1 in Group A round-robin play after Nigeria opened with a 60-56 victory over Tunisia and Lithuania lost 102-79 to Argentina.

Lithuania — which took bronze in 1992, 1996 and 2000 and settled for fourth in 2004 and 2008 — will next meet France on Thursday while the Nigerians must face the US collection of NBA stars.

Both Nigeria and Lithuania made it to the Olympics through a last-chance qualifying tournament three weeks ago at Venezuela.

United States of America, USA, who defeated France 98-71 in their first match are first on the table, while Argentina are second.

THE team was expected to win its first two games at the ongoing London 2012 Olympic Games, but after a scintillating performance against Tunisia in the opening game, it fell like a pack of cards to Lithuania in the second game, and today it faces the almighty owner of the NBA, the United States (U.S.).

“Everybody expects U.S. to whitewash D’Tigers, and even the Nigerians themselves, I suspect, do not actually fancy their chances against Lebron James and his pals,” a basketball observer said. “But they are not ready to lie down and wait to be slaughtered.

“The team unanimously agreed that it met a different team from the Lithuania it beat just last month when both teams clashed on Tuesday. And now the players are ready fight back. At least, that was what they said yesterday, and many Nigerians here believe them.”

Al-Farouq Aminu, who made a double-double outing with 12 points and 11 rebounds against Lithuania, said the Europeans adopted a different tactic from their last encounter in Venezuela, adding: “They had a different team – different approach, different mentality and a little adjustment of the roster."