Nigeria Customs male basketball team yesterday fought back from three sets down to win their opening match 70-66 against Delta Force in the Mark ‘D’ Ball Elite 8 basketball championship which dunked off yesterday in Abuja.
The match played at the Indoor Sports Hall located inside Package B of the MKO Abiola national stadium was dominated by the Delta State team but the more experienced Customs boys turned things around in the final quarter to win the match.
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A visibly angry Customs coach, Mohammed Abba, blamed his boys for their lacklustre performance.
He said that the encounter would have been a walkover, if they had played to their full capacity.
“We won the game in the last quarter in which we were trailing by 14 points because we rested our best hands towards the end of the encounter and it paid off as we were able to triumph at the end,” he said.
Abba said they hope to correct their mistakes and take the FCT HardRockers team to the cleaners in their next match so as to qualify for the semi-final and possibly the finals.
“Our ambition is to get to the final and win the maiden edition of the Mark D Ball Elite basketball championship,” he said.
In other matches played yesterday, Gombe Bulls pipped Kwara Falcons 60-51 in Group B while Mo Heat took rookies FCT HardRockers to the cleaners 79-52 in the second match of Group A.
The final match of the day witnessed a big upset as the more illustrious Kano Pillars were beaten 57-63 by underdogs HotCoal Ballers.
Matches will continue today with the first match between Mo Heat vs Delta Force, Kwara Falcons will take on Hotcoal Ballers in the second match, FCT HardRockers will square up with Nigeria Customs in the third match while the titanic battle between Kano Pillars and Gombe Bulls would round up Day 2 proceedings.
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