Benue, Lagos, Kano in semis, Oyo rues loss

AFTER their second successive victory, Benue, Lagos and Kano yesterday secured their places in the semifinals of the 14th Milo Secondary School Basketball Championship.In the battle for the last four yesterday, defending champion, Benue's Queen of the Rosary, maintained its determination to hold on to the title with a 30 -21 defeat of Oyo State's Yejide Girls School in their second group match of the competition.It was a tough match which took five minutes of extra time to determine the eventual winner. Coming from the one year ban placed on the state by the organisers of the championship, the Oyo girls put up a good performance, but they could not sustain their efforts and fell in the extra minutes.Desperate to prove a point with the match, the Oyo side came from 13-16 in the third quarter to tie at 21-21 at the end of the fourth quarter. But experience outclassed skills, as the Benue side shot to the lead with nine points to end the encounter 30-21.Meanwhile, with two victories so far recorded by Lagos' Ajigbeda Girls School and Kano's Ahmadiyah College, the teams will also play in the semi-final matches scheduled for tomorrow. However, coach Abiodun blamed his lads' loss on inexperience.'We were unfortunate to have lost the match because my players are inexperienced and this gave our opponents an upper hand,' he said. 'I also want to blame the referee for the way he handled the match.'I think once again Benue has confirmed their superiority over us and most often, the match is always lost toward the end.'For the handler of Benue side, Yende Terkimbi, retaining the title is a priority: 'We are not in Lagos to watch anybody, our business here is to return the trophy to Benue,' he said.'However, we are playing against some of the best teams in the country because any team that made it to this stage is the champion of a zone. We are not going to play to the gallery, every match will be taken serious.
Click here to read full news..