Semi-finalists Emerge in Equatorial Conference

NESTLE MILO SCHOOLS B’BALL

Kunle Adewale

The quarter-final matches of the Equatorial Conference of the Nestle Milo Secondary Schools Basketball competition were decided yesterday at the Sports Hall of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu, Enugu State with eight states booking their semifinal tickets.

In the boys’ category, Rivers State defeated their Anambra counterparts 26-17, Ebonyi out-dunked host, Enugu, 40-6, while Cross River defeated Imo 18-15.

In the last boys’ game, Bayelsa defeated Akwa Ibom 28-16.
In the girls category, ruthless Bayelsa State girls outclassed their counterparts from Ebonyi 42-4, while in the battle of neighbours, Akwa Ibom defeated Cross River 31-10, while Imo defeated Abia 16-9.

One of the outstanding schools in the competition was Community Secondary School, PABOD, Port Harcourt, which paraded the smallest boy in terms of stature and age yet showed great cohesion against bigger opponents.

In a chat with THISDAY, Coach of the school, Fubara Onyenabo, said he felt elated that the boys booked a semifinal ticket considering that it was the first time the school would be participating in the competition.

“The ultimate aim is to expose them to the biggest stage as far as basketball is concern. Most of them came from the volatile part of the state where cultism was the order of the day but I have been able to shield them away from trouble through the Da-F Basketball Academy, which sponsors most of them to school,” Onyenabo said.
The semifinal matches are scheduled to take place today at the same venue.