By Ayo Bada, Lagos
Government Secondary School, Numan, Adamawa and Harmony Secondary School, Lokoja, Kogi State, have qualified for the Confluence Conference final of the 18th Nestle Milo Secondary School Basketball Championships in Lokoja.
Bastektball lovers and fans had something to cheer as the future stars of the game entertained them at the Indoor Sports Hall of the Confluence Stadium. Harmony Secondary School fought back from a four-point deficit to account for the scalp of Government Girls Secondary School, Jogona, Kano 22-17.
Supporters of the two respective teams were kept at the edge of their seats throughout the match.
In the second semifinal, there was no surprise as defending champions of the Conference, Adamawa showed their superiority over Bauchi’s Government College, Narbodo with 33-11 victory.
Though the girls’ semifinals made the fans salivate, the boys category offered a special touch.
Crowther Memorial College Lokoja were pushed harder by Darusalam Science and Academy Maiduguri but they eventually prevailed with 43-30 points win.
Abu Uma-Ojo and Kazeem Usman were the outstanding players for the Kogi boys. The game that lived up to its billing was between General Muritala Muhammad College Yola, Adamawa and Ahmadiyah College Kano.
There was no dull moment as the Kano boys succumbed to the firepowers of Adamawa losing 31-24.
Head coach of Adamawa boys, Tinism Dickson, lauded the sponsor, Nestle Plc, for their continued support of the game at grassroots level, saying, “the sponsor should be commended for ensuring the continuation of the annual event. We need more of this, so that we can discover more players from the schools.”