The 2014 DStv Premier Basketball League season has marked mid-season with a Celebrity/All-Star Game, which held at the Indoor Sports Hall of the University of Lagos Sports Complex, Akoka, Yaba, penultimate Saturday.
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Addressing basketball enthusiasts who thronged the venue for the second year running, MultiChoice Nigeria’s Managing Director, John Ugbe, expressed the company’s delight that the partnership with the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) is yielding positive results, leading to enhanced league and improved standards for players and officials.
Ugbe thanked the guests at the jumpball event and reiterated MultiChoice’s commitment to the support of sporting activities in Nigeria via its DStv, GOtv, SuperSport, mobile and online platforms.
NBBF President, Tijjani Umar, thanked MultiChoice for the continued support for the basketball game in Nigeria. He expressed optimism that the game of basketball in the country will continue to flourish, given the support from MultiChoice. He lauded the celebrities/all-star jumpball initiative and commended stakeholders that made the season successful so far.
He promised that NBBF would strive to ensure that basketball gains more prominence among Nigerians.
MultiChoice Nigeria and NBBF sealed a new contract for the sponsorship of the DStv Premier Basketball League recently. The new contract, which has a cash component of N218 million, also includes live coverage of basketball games at both the Savannah and Atlantic Conferences by SuperSport for the duration of the sponsorship, which will last till 2017.
The celebrity game pitted Team Channel O against Team Beat FM. It was a star-studded parade that featured Nigerian acts like Dare Art-Alade, Ikechukwu, Bovi, among others, and the captain of Nigerian basketball national team, D’Tigers, Olumide Oyedeji, who played for Channel O. The game ended 12-6 in favour of Team Channel O.
In the All-Star game, Savannah Conference triumphed over their Atlantic counterparts by 66-45, as Savannah’s Usman reclaimed the Most Valuable player (MVP) trophy.
The highly-advertised game, which saw the 24 players carefully selected from the two conferences of the league, was watched by a capacity crowd who yearned for more basketball actions as the Stanley Gumut-captained Savannah Conference dominated the game.
Although Savannah fell short on the board with 24-26 rebounds, it gained upperhand in other areas of the game with 16-10 assists, seven to five steals and a lesser turn-over of nine to 12.
Abubakar Usman, who has had a splendid performance with Kano Pillars Basketball Club this season, making Pillars the only side to remain unbeaten in nine DStv regular season game, was adjudged the 2014 All-Star Game MVP; thus reclaiming the title he lost to Atlantic and Dodan Warriors Basketball Club captain, Azuoma Dike, in 2012/2013.