Gombe Bulls Basketball Club of Gombe and Kwara Falcons will lock horns in the final of this year’s Kwese Basketball League Final 8 after winning their semi-final encounters.
The team from Kwara State and Gombe Bulls are now the two representatives of Nigeria in next year’s FIBA-Africa Club Championship.
Gombe Bulls edged out defending champions, Kano Pillars 66-63 points in one of the semi-final matches.
The tension-soaked match was decided yesterday evening at the Indoor Sports Hall of Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano.
Gombe Bulls, who are reaching the final for the second time in a row, had succumbed to the superior firepower of Kano Pillars in the final of the last year edition.
But they were not going to back down this time, though the coach Abdulrahman Mohammed-led team lost the first and second quarters 20-18 and 33-31 to Pillars respectively, they came out stronger in the second half.
They drew the third quarter 45-45, before overtaking their rivals in the last quarter to end the game 66-63 points.
Wisdom Anyoaha scored the highest points of the game, recording 15 points and 5 rebound to help Gombe Bulls win the match.
Also, Kwara Falcons came back from the dead to edge out Hoops N Read in the second semi-final match on Saturday night.
Hoops took the lead from the onset, winning the first quarter 21-15, second quarter 41-31 and third quarter 60-59.
However, Falcons ran riots in the final quarter to steal a victory after topping the score chat 78-76 at the end of the match.
Mustapha Oyebanji was the star man for the Falcons with 25 points, the highest in the match, to help his side edge out the young Hoops N Read side. The captain of the team Johnson Anaiye also contributed 23 points.
Kwara Falcons will now lock horns with Gombe Bulls in the final to be decided today, while Hoops will confront Kano Pillars in the third place match this afternoon at the Indoor Sports Hall of Sani Abacha Stadium.
Speaking after the match, Gombe Bulls coach Mohammed expressed delight in reaching the final for the second time in only two seasons.
“We had our game plans and all we needed to do was keep our focus and continue the way we began,” he said.
