Nigeria Fall In Game 2 Against Venezuela…

In game 2 of D’Tigers three game series against the Venezuelan National team in Orlando, Florida, it was de ja vu all over again for both sides as they put up another repeat performance that was witnessed in the previous game. Just like in game one, the first three quarters were favorable to Nigeria as they finished the first quarter ahead 10-9 and continued that dominance into the second period going into the break 26-18 ahead, the third quarter also saw Nigeria take a 44-36 lead. Entering the decisive fourth quarter, the Venezuelans made their intention felt from the start, they applied very good ball pressure, speeding up the Nigerian offence, and forcing some key turnovers as they managed to erase a ten points deficit tieing the game at 53 apiece with exactly 2 minutes left in the fourth.

In the final two minutes, both teams put in all efforts to get the victory, and with 15.9 seconds left, Virginia Military standout Stan Okoye converted two free throws to tie the game at 57 leading to a Venezuelan time-out, from the time out, the Venezuelan side advanced with the ball in the front court, benefiting from good penetration by their guard, the ball wound up with Carlos Cedeno at the top of the key who knocked down a long two with 3.7 seconds left in the game to give Venezuela a two points advantage. One enough time left on the clock, Nigeria still had one more chance to tie or take the game, however a long three by Ben Uzoh fell short as Venezuela celebrated another come back victory. Nigeria were led by Alade Aminu 16 points, Michael Eric 15, and Stan Okoye finished with 8 points. The final game between both teams will be played on Wednesday at the Coral Gables at the University of Miami, 8:00 pm (eastern)

Positives

Another positive effort from the starting five, Ben Uzoh, Stan Okoye, Jamal Olasewere, Michael Eric and Olumide Oyedeji seem to be developing a good understanding of each others presence on the court and can only get stronger as camp continues, their versatility on the court has proved very hard to handle for the Venezuelans in both games.The introduction of Alade Aminu added more quality for the Nigerian side on both ends of the floor, and although his jumper stopped falling towards the end, there is no doubt that his presence in the team will give Nigeria more added value in the front court.Ben Uzoh has been very impressive in the guard position, his selflessness, ability to handle the ball under pressure, and his scoring efficiency from the guard position is an area the Nigerian team will benefit from as they head into Afrobasket.

Areas of Improvement.

From watching both games, one area the Nigerian team will need to work on, is getting the back-court balance right,  for the second straight game, the Nigerian side were unable to cope with the strong ball pressure applied by the Venezuelans most especially during the latter parts of the game, the options of more ball handlers might need to be looked into, or getting better balance on that part of the court. There is still a lot to learn from these games, and things should improve as camp continues.