Canada Basketball – CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA (April 7, 2018) – Canada’s men’s Commonwealth Games team defeated Nigeria 82-67 on Saturday afternoon to improve to 1-1 at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Justus Alleyn and Ammanuel Diressa led Canada with 24 points each.  Munis Tutu grabbed a team-high six rebounds to go along with seven points, while Conor Morgan had six points and four assists in 22 minutes of action.

Leading Nigeria 23-16 after the opening quarter, Canada extended their lead to 34-22 midway through the second frame before entering halftime with a six point advantage.  Nigeria refused to go away in a back-and-forth third quarter, outscoring Canada 15-14.  With just five points separating the two teams heading into the final frame, Canada came out firing in the fourth, outscoring the Nigerians 25-15 en route to the victory.  Ikechukwu Diogu had a game-high 27 points for Nigeria in the loss.

Saturday’s victory was Canada’s first on the men’s side at the Commonwealth Games.  Basketball has only been on the Commonwealth Games program once, at Melbourne 2006 (Canada did not enter teams in the tournament).

Canada is in Pool A along with Australia, Nigeria and New Zealand.

Click here for the box score.

QUOTES

“It was a great game for us.  We played much better as a team.  The ball was moving, everyone got involved.  We’re improving every day.  We’ll enjoy this win and start preparing for Monday’s game against New Zealand.” – Justus Alleyn

“I’m proud of this group for getting Canada’s first men’s win at the Commonwealth Games.  We played unselfishly, disciplined and more Canadian.” – Kirby Schepp, Head Coach

UP NEXT

Following an off day on Sunday, Canada concludes preliminary round pool play on Monday, April 9 against New Zealand at 18:30 (4:30 AM ET). The game will be streamed on DAZN. Click here for the complete tournament schedule.

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For more information, contact:

Matt Walker, mwalker@basketball.ca