DStv PL: Kano Pillars road to title claim - Sep 28, 2010 The 2009/2010 seaon of the Nigeria DStv Premier Basketball League ended in Port Harcourt, River State with Kano Pillars basketball club retaining the title it claimed last year in Lagos after an energy sapping finals against Royal Hoopers basketball club of Port Harcourt. Seeded in Group-B as defending champion, Pillars entered the 2010 DStv Premier League final-8 playoffs as clear favourite to claim the title at the end of the 5-Day playoffs which was watched by capacity crowd at the Civic Centre in Port Harcourt. Pillars paraded some of the most tested players in the local scene with four of them making the nations senior national team, DTigers to July FIBA Africa Championship for Men Zone-3 Qualifiers in Lome, Togo, having spent close to five seasons together as a team little would Coach Sani Ahmed have to worry in blending the side to a formidable side as they took aside Union Bank basketball club challenge in its group opening game by 82-73 points. The Nigeria champion went to tore apart Police Baton basketball club of Lagos by a whopping 29-point difference of 73-44 points in its second group game before wrapping it with a triumphant 66-48 points victory over Bauchi Nets basketball club in it last group-B game to top the group going into the semi-finals. The semi-final pairing against Dodan Warriors basketball club of Lagos who qualified along-side group-A leader, Royal Hoopers basketball club brought spendid performance from the more experience Pillars players who ran-ring round the Warriors side, winning the schedule by 28-point of 99-71 points to set up a grand finale clash against Royal Hoopers. The final lived up to expectation of the large crwod who turned out to see the best of Nigeria basketball powered by MultiChoice owner of DStv/SuperSport. Royal Hoopers basketball club scared the living day light out of the Pillars as they took an early lead from the blast of the referees whistle through a well executed three-pointer by Kingsley Aguara, these was replied by Pillars strongman and Nigeria national team guard, Abubakar Usman who equalled the score-line from the free-throw line after being fouled while attempting a three-pointer. But the effontary of Usman to level score became the tonic the Hoopers players needed as they took turn to make basket after basket leading all the way to the dying minutes of the last quarter before Pillars rose to the challenge to even scores again at 71 points apiece with less than five minutes left. Efforts by Hoopers to fight back was rebuff by the bigger Pillars players as they challenge the Hoopers to a game of wit to win the claim a second straight DStv Premier League title and third consecutive league tite having the year before the coming of DStv into the Nigerian league by 78-77 points. All the results Day-1 Dodan Warriors 68-40 Niger Potters (Grp-A) Kano Pillars 82-73 Union Bank (Grp-B) Bauchi Nets 61-65 Police Baton (Grp-B) Royal Hoopers 84-66 Kada Stars (Grp-A) Day-2 Union Bank 58-64 Bauchi Nets (Grp-B) Kada Stars 64-76 Dodan Warriors (Grp-A) Police Baton 44-73 Kano Pillars (Grp-B) Niger Potters 47-75 Royal Hoopers (Grp-A) Day-3 Kada Stars 80-49 Niger Potters (Grp-A) Kano Pillars 66-48 Bauchi Nets (Grp-B) Un ion Bank 67-57 Police Baton (Grp-B) Royal Hoopers 80-53 Dodan Warriors (Grp-A) Day-4 Semi-Finals Kano Pillars 99-71 Dodan Warriors Union Bank 50-65 Royal Hoopers Day-5: Third Place Dodan Warriors 74-80 Union Bank (Over-Time) Grand Finale Kano PIllars 78-77 Royal Hoopers How Atlantic conference subdue Savannah in first DStv All-Stars Game - Jul 6, 2010 A new development was added to the Nigeria Basketball League at the weekend with the staging of the ALL-STARS Weekend at the magnificent Murtala Square Sports Complex, Kaduna by the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF). The All-Stars Game served as a stop-gap for the one-week break the Nigeria DStv Premier League enjoyed and to also create a frontier among players of the two conferences (Atlantic and Savannah). The weekend (last Sunday) began with the traditional Three-point contest between six players drawn from both conferences with Shola Alayande of the Lagos Islanders basketball club clinching the title in a superb manner. Alayande who won the Three-points shooting contest ten years back when the All-Stars Game was last held in Lagos which he also won. The shooting contest was followed by the Slam-Dunk contest which also attracted six contestants from the two conference with young but energetic Mattew Esiegbe carting away the winning plaque with a unique dunk when he glide over two 6 foot, 10 inches tall players to jam the ball into the net. The big game between the best players selected from the two conference soon take the center stage as the League Board of the Nigeria federation approve the usage of the modern 3-man officiating comprising Pierre Ndobegang (Cameroon); Ado Ahmed (Kano) and Ibrahim Hassan (Kaduna) with Bala Usman serving as technical commissioner of the day. The game started with both sides approaching the game with great caution but the Atlantic conference drew the first blood when good exchange of ball between conference starting point guard, Yomi Joshua of Ebun Comets basketball club and Mohammed Bukar of Dodan Warriors resulted in the first basket after forty seconds of play. The Atlantic conference coached by the duo of Coaches Ogoh Odaudu of Royal Hoopers basketball club of Port Harcourt and Mark Balogun of the Police Baton basketball club of Lagos went ahead to win the first quarter by 30-14 points. Savannah conference charged back in the second and third quarters which they won by 27-20 and 24-17 points to narrow the gap between them and their Atlantic conference counterpart to just two points of 67-65 points going into the final quarter. The game took a dramatic turn with the introduction of Shola Alayande at the beginning of the fourth quarter who scored two straight 3-pointer to further widen the gap between them and the Savannah conference while Bukar and Joshua did not drop their contribution as the Atlantic conference went on to win the game by 93-82 points with Bukar carting home the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. NBBF president, Tijjani Umar expresses satisfaction with the outcome of the weekend and promised that the federation will continue to uphold the importance of the All-Stars Games. Alayande, Abubakar lead Atlantic, Savannah conference All-Star team - Jun 30, 2010 2002/ 2003 Nigeria U18/ U19 national team captain, Sola Alayande and Abubakar Usman are leading the Atlantic and Savannah conference All-Star challenge in the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) All-Star Weekend billed for the sports hall of Murtala Square Sports Complex, Kaduna on Sunday. Alayande who was selected from Lagos Islanders basketball club was captain of the Nigerian junior national team that won the FIBA Africa Championship for U18 Men in Egypt in 2002 and went on to represent Africa at the 2003 edition of the FIBA U19 World Championship held in Thessalonica, Greece alongside Abubakar Usman drawn from Kano Pillars basketball club to represent the Savannah conference. Other players who made the Atlantic conference All-Star team include, Mohammed Bukar and Edwin Jerry from Dodan Warriors basketball club, Yomi Joshua and Obum Onyia from Ebun Comets basketball club, Victor Anthony and Musa Usman from Royal Hoopers basketball club of Port Harcourt, Azuoma Dike and Onyeka Ekpete from Union Bank basketball club, Malik Tella drawn from the Police Baton basketball club, Yomi Oyeniyi from Delta Force and Jabiru Lawal from Nigeria Customs basketball club. And other players selected to represent the Savannah conference at the All-Star Weekend are 2006 FIBA Africa U18 Championship star, Ibrahim Yusuf and Kelvin Nambam from kano Pillars basketball club; Manasseh Achi and Akpara Akita from Bauchi Nets basketball club; Prince Eze from Yelwa Hawks basketball club; Adeolu Olaiya and Isiaka Yusuf from Kadda Stars basketball club; Shehu Mohammed from Niger Potters basketball club of Minna; Rabiu Sani from AHIP Giants basketball club of Kano; Victor Zammeh from Plateau Peaks basketball club of Jos and Habib Hassan from Tapgun Rockets basketball club of Jos completes the roster. Yalwa Hawks captain and former Niger Potters and Plateau Peaks basketball clubs off-guard, Jeffery Lohor lead the Three-Point contest challenge. Lohor will be competing against Sabo Gabriel of Niger Potters basketball club of Minna and Richiyo Dickson of Kadda Stars basketball club of Kaduna. In the slam-dunk contest has Mattew Omoye of Kano Pillars basketball club, Mattew Esiebge of Kadda Stars basketball club and Ochebi Okpe from Plateau Peaks basketball club vying for honours. The two All-Star teams will be coached by Ogoh Odaudu of Royal Hoopers basketball club of Port Harcourt and Mark Balogun of the Police Baton basketball club of Lagos for the Atlantic conference while Sani Ahmed of Kano Pillars basketball club and Sani Turi of Kadda Stars basketball club of Kaduna takes charge of the Savannah conference side. All the players and official according to the chairman of the NBBF Technical Committee are expected in Kaduna by Friday evening while both teams will have a light work-out on Saturday for proper bonding of the players before the big show on Sunday. |
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