Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Josh Okogie scored 7 of his team-high 19 points in the final 1:37 of the game, as Nigeria thwarted a late rally by China to win 86-73 in the 2019 FIBA World Cup on Sunday.
A 3-pointer and 2 free throws by Abudushalamu Abudurexiti got the hosts closer 77-71 inside the last 2 minutes in Guangzhou.
But Okogie converted a 3-point play off Abudushalamu's foul, then went 4 of 4 from the free-throw line as a result of China fouling in the next possessions, which gave Nigeria enough cushion to frustrate star center Yi Jianlian and the hometown fans.
Yi finished with 27 points to lead all scorers.
The win sent the African side to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics because it finished the tournament with the best record among other teams from the continent.
Meanwhile, China had held out hope that its point differential would be sufficient to qualify for the Olympics.
But after Iran dismantled the Philippines 95-75 in a game that ended later, the Middle Eastern squad ended up with a higher aggregate margin of victory (plus-7) compared to China (minus-10).
After a rousing 70-55 victory over Cote d'Ivoire in the group stage, China was stunned in a 79-76 overtime loss to Poland.
Needing a win in its third game, the once dominant team in Asia stumbled out of the gates against Venezuela and ended up falling 72-59.
China beat Korea 77-73 in its first classification game, but had hoped to win big against Nigeria to grab an Olympic seat.
Instead, the hosts — who boast of players with NBA experience and size advantage such as Yi — couldn't take advantage of the crowd support to finish the World Cup as underachievers.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
