Chief coach of the victorious St. Judes Girls Secondary School, Amaranta Bayelsa State, Tony Nelson, has attributed his match plan to the success of the school at the final of this year’s Nestle Milo Secondary Schools Basketball Championship held at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos on Saturday, June 6.
Nelson led his girls to beat Idiah College, Benin City, Edo State 18 – 15 points in the girls’ category final.
The final match was full of expectations as the Idiah College girls depended on their past glory when they stopped St. Judes girls at the Atlantic Conference final in Benin City.
But the Bayelsa girls were very confident and determined to make a mark at the end of the championship.
Nelson said: “I identified the antidote to check the Edo girls when we beat them in the preliminaries stage 25 -19 points.
“I used the same match plan to tackle them in the final and it paid off. This is the fourth time we are meeting this year and we emerged victorious on three occasions.
However, Coach Philip Ojo of Idiah College Benin City said his girls just lost grip of the game and gave their opponents the chance to lift the trophy.
He said: “Our shooting could not come on fine and my key players suffered fatigue that was why we lost.
The boys’ final match was thrilling and sensational. Debutants, St. Peters College, Idah, Kogi State almost recorded an upset against Government Secondary School, Kaduna State.
But thanks to the shooting prowess of the championship Most Valuable Player (MVP), David Isa of Kaduna who lifted his team’s spirit with the saving grace to make it 52 -51.
Coach Rizzama Shenini of Kogi State who wept after the match said his players were tensed up.
He said: ‘’I tried to calm my players down, you know at a point there was confusion and those fouls against us did not help matters’’.
However, Coach James Jatau of Kaduna State agreed that he met a good side. He said: ‘’I recall we had the same situation in Akure. I was able to control my players and it was the same Isa that we relied upon’’.
At the end of the final matches, trophies, cash prizes, certificates, training shoes, Milo balls and Milo packs were given to the winners.