Ike Iroegbu (Top) of Nigeria goes up for the basket during the group B match between Nigeria and Argentina at the 2019 FIBA World Cup in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, on Sept. 2, 2019. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)
WUHAN, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Argentina beat Nigeria 94-81 in its second group game here on Monday, catching its second win at the FIBA basketball World Cup.
Luis Scola led everyone with 23 points, Facundo Campazzo added 14 points. In Nigeria side, Josh Okogie pocketed 18 points and five assists.
Nigeria lost to Russia 82-77 in its first World Cup game on last Saturday. The African team needed to defeat the South Americans to keep alive its hopes of entering the last 16 of the World Cup. While Argentines also aimed to get the win as well as a berth in the last 16.
Nicolas Brussino of Argentina helped his team with a 8-2 run at the beginning of the match. The Africans kept chasing through their outstanding talents, but they couldn't built a solid system in the first quarter, seeing the 2004 Olympics gold medalist enlarge its advantages to two-digit before the first break, 28-17.
Although Nigeria's bench players couldn't build a teamwork offense system, Minnesota Timberwolves' Josh Okogie helped his team trim the deficit to four points midway in the second period. With 5:03 left before the half break, Jordan Nwora's layup made Nigeria team ahead 33-32. Then the match became even tenser with the score tied at 43-43 at the half time.
Luis Scola contributed a two plus one point show. Argentina enjoyed an upper hand during the third period. When facing rival's all-court press tactic, Real Madrid's Facundo Campazzo kept firing for Argentina through three-pointers and dashed Nigeria's hope of narrowing the gap.
Argentina had a 11-point advantage entering the final quarter. Nigeria sent a no-center-formation on the court to speed up its offense, but the tactic didn't work well. After a 8-3 scoring run, Argentina led the game beyond its rival's reach. At last, the 2019 Pan-American Games gold medalist won over Nigeria 94-81.
Considering that the South Korean team is much weaker than the other three teams of the Group, the South Americans had almost secured a ticket to the last 16 round after pocketing two consecutively wins.
