Basketball in Africa

Nigeria Customs men's basketball team on Saturday beat the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) 77-59 to emerge the 2011 champions of the National Division One tournament.


The match, played at the indoor hall of the National Stadium, Abuja, concluded the championship which began on Nov. 14.
Both teams had earlier qualified for the 2012 DSTV/NBBF Premier League by picking the two available tickets after winning their respective groups in the eight-team championship.
Nigeria Customs had on Thursday won the three-team Atlantic Conference Group, while the 'Defenders of Abuja', as the NSCDC team are fondly called by their fans, topped the five-team Savannah Conference Group.
In the final game, Nigeria Customs took an early lead, winning the first quarter 19-8, while the Defenders rallied back in the second quarter.
In spite of the stiff opposition from the NSCDC, the Nigeria Customs led 40-22 at half-time.
The third quarter saw the Defenders fighting gallantly to reduce the margin, although still trailing the Customs 39-55.
However, the Lagos-based Nigeria Customs played better in the final quarter to clinch the game.
At the end of the game, Nigeria Customs' Coach, Scott Nnaji, said that the outcome was a reflection of his team's superiority over the other teams in the championship.
"I can agree that our performance dipped during the game, but we still showed the stuff we are made of as the best team at this championship," he said.
Coach Tope Olowosulu of the Defenders said he was happy as his team "still gave a very good fight" in the match to show their quality.
"We still gave a very good fight in a very tight competition and this has showed that we are not champions of our group by default.
"We, however, give the glory to God for this opportunity, and we hope to do better in the future," he said.