Nigeria takes final Olympic basketball spot

CARACAS, Venezuela – Ike Diogu scored 25 points as Nigeria earned the final men’s basketball spot at the London Olympics with an 88-73 victory over the Dominican Republic on Sunday.

“I’m very happy. We did what had to be done,” Diogu said. “We knew we were going to face teams that are heavyweights, and we did what we needed to do — win.”

Yack Martinez led the Dominican Republic with 16 points.

Russia and Lithuania also qualified with semifinals victories Saturday.

In London, Lithuania and Nigeria will join the United States, Tunisia, France and Argentina in Group A. Russia, China, Britain, Brazil, Australia and Spain are in Group B.