President of the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF), Tijjani Umar, has defended the decision of the centre umpire, Tunde Popoola, in the final match of the just-concluded DStv Premier Basketball League (PBL) Final Eight played on Saturday, July 19, at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
Kano Pillars’ Captain, Matthew Onmonya (left); receiving the trophy from Public Relations Manager, MultiChoice Nigeria, Caroline Oghuma (second left), supported by Mark Igoche (second right) and NBBF President, Tijjani Umar, at the final of 2014 DStv Basketball League Championship.
Kano Pillars of Kano defeated Mark Mentors of Abuja by a point (89-88) in the final match to retain the trophy at the end of the season.
Umar said Popoola got the decision to cancel the final basket scored by Mark Mentors Basketball Club of Abuja right after he and the chairman of Mark Mentors, Mark Igoche, reviewed the dying seconds of the epic final match.
“From the replay, it was clear that Musa Usman of Mark Mentors still had possession of the ball as time expired. The referee duly indicated that, and from the video footage Igoche and I saw, the referee got the decision spot on,” said Umar.
Controversy was courted at the Indoor Sports Hall when Popoola cancelled Usman’s basket at the end of the game.
Mark Mentors, who led all through the game, led by four points with 21 seconds of the game to spare. However, there was a dramatic twist of fortune when Kano Pillars took the lead by one, 89-88 points, with five seconds left on the game clock. The lead was courtesy of a three-point shot from Abubakar Usman after team mate Adeolu Olaiya’s dunk reduced the deficit to two points earlier.
With the championship title still at stake, Mark Mentors pushed to score within the five seconds left. They did score, but it was a tale of too little, too late, as time expired before they could get the ball in the basket.
Kano Pillars successfully defended the title they won last season and match winner, Abubakar Usman, going home with his second consecutive Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Final 8 award.
‘Nda Abu’, as he is popularly called, also won the highest scorer award with 138 points in five matches, while Mark Mentors forward, Abdul Yahaya, went home with the highest rebounder award.
Dodan Warriors Basketball Club of Lagos placed third behind Pillars and Mentors to win the Bronze medals after beating Gombe Bulls of Gombe.