France hold off Oguchi's charge to clinch a 79-73 victory over Nigeria – Olympics Men Basketball Recap
The French men basketball team had to work hard for their victory over Nigeria here at the London Olympics on Monday night.
France started strong, but the Nigerians staged a comeback in the third period leaving France fighting till the last minute to edge out with a 79-73 victory. The win puts France ahead of team U.S.A in Group A with 9 points from 5 games temporarily. U.S.A are in 2nd position with 8 points from four games and will meet Argentina later tonight.
Nicolas Batum scored a game high 23 points for France, grabbing 6 rebounds in the process. He was 8 of 13 from the field and a perfect 3 of 3 from the foul line for the night. Mickael Gelabale was the second highest scorer on the French side with 10 points and 6 rebounds, as Tony Parker struggled on the night and ended with a meagre 3 points and 7 assists, going 1 of 6 from the field.
It took the Nigerians exactly 4 minutes and 19 seconds to put their first points on the board, when Chamberlain Oguchi scored a three pointer. France started on a 9-0 run as the Nigerians missed their first 7 field goal attempts. France quickly ran away to a 17-8 lead, and finished the quarter with 6 straight points to lead 23-10 going into the next quarter.
Nigeria attempted to re-enter the game in the 2nd period, as their scoring gained some momentum and shots started to connect. Nigeria scored 7 quick points to cut the deficit to 26-19, but France resisted and a three point shot by Yakhouba Diawara put the French ahead 33-24 with 4:02 left in halftime. France led 41-30 at halftime.
Nigeria opened with a 6-0 run in the third period, and back to back three pointers by Oguchi tied the game at 44, completing the comeback by the Nigerians.
France tried to run away with the lead in the ensuing passage but Alade Aminu scored back to back two pointers and had Nigeria in the thick of things, trailing by just 51-52. The Europeans were able to hang on to a 56-54 lead at the end of the period thanks to a buzzer beating two pointer by Gelabale.
Oguchi’s three pointer with 5:30 left in the game tied the scores at 62 shorty before France again claimed the lead.
A three point play by Batum gave France a 72-65 lead, but Oguchi replied with another three . Batum then hit a three pointer and Kevin Seraphin scored on one of two free throws attempts to give France a 76-68 lead with a little over two minutes left in the game.
Batum then put the exclamation mark on the game when he nailed a clutch three pointer with 31 seconds left to give France a 79-70 lead. The French side went on to win 79-73.
Oguchi was the star of the game, scoring 35 points for Nigeria while going 10 of 20 from the field including an 8 of 14 performance from the three point line. Derrick Obasohan was the only other Nigerian player with double digit points, scoring 18 for the night.
Nigeria were an outstanding 10 of 20 from the distance owing to a spectacular shooting night from Oguchi. However, France had the better field goal percentage overall for the night, and had a 24-10 advantage is assists. The Nigerian side depended too much on Oguchi while France had different scoring options, which helped them clinch the victory.
Nigeria have now lost their 4th game and are placed 5th in Group A with 6 points.
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