The Union Bank of Lagos guard, Solomon Ajegbeyi, on Wednesday expressed confidence that his team would qualify for the semi final stage of the ongoing DStv Basketball Final Playoffs in Lagos.
The team had on Tuesday revived their hopes in the competition by bouncing back from the opening match loss to Kano Pillars, to snatch victory from city rival, Dodan Warriors, 65-56.
Ajegbeyi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the loss to Pillars had woken the team and was now confident of winning the next match to qualify for semi finals.
“’We are confident we will pick our match against Kada Stars of Kaduna, though they are a good side but we are equally fired up not to lose any match.
“’The way we played against Dodan Warriors shows our capacity to fight back and the determination to win tough matches, we are sure we will not let our fans down,” Ajegbeyi said.
Meanwhile his teammate, Celestine Nwafor said that the game against Kada Stars was a must win match.
“The victory against Dodan Warriors has boosted our confidence, we played well against a very tough opposition who at one point were in a good position to win the match.
“We have developed a ‘never say die spirit’ and we will battle Kada Stars in the same manner when we meet,” Nwafor said.
Dodan Warriors Shooting guard, Simon Owoicho, on his own part said that they would not let their fans down and were not happy about the loss to Union Bank.
“We did not concentrate well enough in the final quarter of the match, we taught we had the game because we were leading confidently, but lost focus in the last quarter of the match.
“We play against Kano Pillars in our final match and we just have to rise up to the occasion and do our best to bruise their ego by beating them,” Owoicho said.
The match saw Dodan Warriors coming from 8-17 down in the first quarter to claim the second quarter, 21-17, dominated ball play and deservedly claimed the third quarter, 43-34.
However a spirited performance by the Union Bank team saw them play one of the most exciting comebacks of the playoffs as they pounced on Warriors by concentrating their efforts on three points throws.
The Warriors’ defenders were simply helpless as Union Bank’s Emeka Ajaegbu, executed five consecutive three point shots that came at the right time to save the day for his team.
In other matches played at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, the defending champions continued in their quests to retain the trophy as they beat Kada Stars, 80-62.
It was Kano Pillars second successive victory in the competition which put them in the second round of the championship.
Following the footsteps of Pillars, their Savannah Conference counterpart, Mark Mentors of Abuja had to battle hard to dying seconds of a thrilling encounter to beat Gombe Bulls.
It was also Mark Mentors second victory having beaten Lagos Islanders, 78-68 in their opening game.
Lagos Islanders also had to engineer a spirited performance by thrashing their conference rivals, Customs of Lagos, 65-56 to remain in contention for the second round stage.
