NBBF Premier League Final 8: Rivers Hoopers, Kwara Falcons record second win

By Ifeanyi Eduzor
The identity of the teams that will be in the last four of the NBBF Premier League Final 8, going on at the Sports Hall of the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos, is getting clearer as Match Day 2 games came to an exciting end on Tuesday.
Rivers Hoopers and Kwara Falcons recorded their second win at the Final 8 to put a foot in the semi- finals of the competition.
The Falcons from Ilorin were the first to make to win two matches in Match Day 2 as they brushed aside Kano Pillars 65-54 points.They did it in style by winning all the four quarters by
17-15, 14-12, 20-19 and 14-8.
The final match of the day lived up to iexpectation as fans could not hide their excitement for the end to end action.
Hoopers started the game on fine note, winning the first three quarters and capped it up with an 18 points lead going into the fourth and final quarter. 17-5, 19-18 and 16-11.
However the Bulls under the stewardship of coach Abdulrahaman Mohammed almost turned the table against Hoopers as they closed the gap at the end of the game to 7 points as the game finished 67-60.
Meanwhile, the dream of Lagos Islanders Basketball Club reaching the knockout stage of the competition is gradually fading away as they lost their second game in the competition.
Islanders went down to a wounded E Nigeria Customs on Match Day 2 of the championship by 70 to 54 points on Tuesday at the Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
It started on a horrible note for Islanders with the first quarter ending 5-17 in favour of Customs. However the coach Seyi Ayodele tutored side recovered quickly to win the second quarter 21-19.
The Lagos Islanders’ imagined recovery did not last for long as the third and final quarter ended at 16-20 and 12-14.
The defeat is the second for Islanders after they crashed to Gombe Bulls 66-55 while the Customs registered their first win after the opening day defeat in the hands of Rivers Hoopers in the NBBF Premier League Final 8.
In the second game of Match Day 2, Benue Braves over ran Police Baton 61 to 43 points which is the heaviest loss in the Final 8 games, played so. 13-7, 20-11, 16-12 and 12-13.
The victory means Benue Braves are still in the race for a place in the last four of the competition while Police Baton hope hangs in a balance.
Customs’ next outing on Wednesday is against Police Baton and Islanders meets Benue Braves which is the first game on Match Day 3.
Gombe Bulls confronts unbeaten Kwara Falcons while Rivers Hoopers faces Kano Pillars.
A close look at the results indicates that the Atlantic Conference teams are showing up on the table with two wins for Falcons and Hoopers each while Benue Braves, Gombe Bulls, Kano Pillars and Nigeria Customs from the Savannah Conference have a win each under their belt.
It’s noteworthy to report that the two teams in the Final 8 without a win so far are from the Atlantic Conference. That’s Islanders and Baton.
The winner of the NBBF Premier League Final 8 will represent Nigeria in the 2023 Basketball Africa League (BAL) in Kigali, Rwanda.