Final-8 Playoff: Customs search for BAL ticket in Kwara Falcons camp
By Pius Ayinor
Kwara Falcons were tipped to beat Benue Braves and they lived up to the billing winning their semifinal match by 83-59. Two hours later it the Customs who secured a 64-59 win over Rivers Hoopers to complete the makeup for the Saturday final match leading to the sole Basketball Africa League ticket.
The Benue men were surely the brave team having not being listed in the top four by the bookmakers but they were able to take the initial charge and led the Falcons to the five seconds to the end of the first half. They had won the first quarter but the last shot of the second quarter gave the Falcons a 35-34 lead and it indeed became the turning point.
The Benue team struggled then to catch up until the buzzer.
The last match on Friday at the National Stadium was one expected to be fought for all through the game and so it was. The match played at a clutch all through. Hoopers defeated the Customs 62-60 in their preliminary stage match on Monday.
Customs took a quick lead of 9-2 but the erstwhile champions caught up at 9-9 and then took a brief lead with just two points before the exchange of leadership began and ran all through. Customs led at 24-21 by the break but again they became closer at 42-41 at the end of the third quarter. The last quarter eventually made the difference.
Hoopers were unable to field a key player Chris Obekpa because the Customs had filed a protest over his eligibility. The decision to leave him out counted so much against the Kingsmen.
The Saturday final game will take the jump ball at 4pm.
