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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