Nigeria’s D’Tigers made light work of Mali as they got their 2021 Afrobasket campaign off to a winning start with a 81-73 win over Mali at the Kigali Arena on Wednesday.

Despite fielding a much changed and inexperienced side for the tournament, Mike Brown’s side never looked like been troubled by the Malians as they won all four quarters to take charge of Group C.

Ben Emelogu was D’Tigers top performer with 18 points as Nigeria’s men’s basketball team recorded a first win since defeating Argentina in a pre-Tokyo Olympics tune up game in July.