Senegal’s Lions End D’Tigers Dream of Emulating D’Tigress in Angola

*Senegal to play Mali in semifinal for final ticket

Duro Ikhazuagbe 

Nigeria’s senior men’s basketball team D’Tigers’ quests to emulate their ladies crashed last night as they lost 75-91 to Senegal in the quarterfinal of the 2025 Afrobasket Championship in Luanda, Angola.

The loss effectively put paid to their dream of also winning the championship and getting rewarded bountifully with thousands of dollars, houses and national honours back home.

And so, they will have to wait another one year before taking a short at the continental title they have only won once in 2015.

Sadly, D’Tigers have become the second team to reach the quarterfinals undefeated — after Côte d’Ivoire — to see their AfroBasket title aspirations come to an abrupt end.

Expectedly, Brancou Badio, who rescued the Lions in the playoffs with Sudan, 

put on a never-to-be-forgotten show last night. The Valencia guard came out with a recital of incredible plays. He drove to the basket at will, shot from almost every corner of the floor, and eventually led all players in scoring with 32 points.

An exhilarating opening quarter saw Senegal and Nigeria tirelessly trading blows, but Nigeria led 24-23 after seven lead changes.

But D’Tigers got blown away in the second and third quarters, losing by as much as 24 points deficit going into the final fourth quarter!

Jean Jacques Boissy hit a three-pointer on Senegal’s first possession of the second quarter to give them a 26-24 lead. 

Another three-pointer from Amar Sylla extended Senegal’s lead to 29–24, and Nigeria never led again.

Senegal maintained their momentum with a 13-5 run before Nigeria called a timeout to minimize the damage.

However, there wasn’t much they could do, as five-time champions Senegal appeared to be relentlessly dominant. 

Although D’Tigers staged a comeback in the fourth quarter, the Lions minimized the damage, losing by just five points. The gains they made in the second and third quarters made up for that and so they snatched the ticket to the semifinal where they will take on Mali.

They had previously beaten Mali 80-70 in Group D.

The drama of the earlier quarterfinals was Mali’s 102-96 victory over Côte d’Ivoire who had their hands on the semifinal ticket but lost it after overtime.

At the end of the fourth quarter, both Mali and Côte d’Ivoire were tied 90-90 for there to be need for overtime to separate the two teams.

Immediately following the thrilling game, Côte d’Ivoire Captain, Solo Diabaté, acknowledged that Mali’s Aliou Diarra dashed Côte d’Ivoire’s hopes of winning their first AfroBasket title in 40 years.

Diarra’s game-highs of 35 points and 16 rebounds and 24 points from Mahamane Coulibaly helped Mali advance to the semifinals for the first time since 1999.