Head Coach of University of Lagos International School, Ijeoma Ernest, who on Saturday led the school to victory at the 4th South West Zone-1 Basketball Championship at the newly refurbished out-door court of Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, Oyo State, has described the feat as the beginning of good things to come.
Speaking after leading his school to beat Marella College, Ibadan, Oyo State by 75-64 points, the soft spoken coach gave kudos to his players and their opponents for displaying good basketball skills to the delight of the crowd that trooped out to watch the final match.
Ernest stated that the championship, which they were the defending champions, was a good preparatory ground for the school, who are aiming to win the Nestle Milo Secondary Schools Basketball Championship, which holds in Lagos later in the year.
He also gave kudos to the organiser of the championship for putting up a good show, adding that the country can only compete well with the rest of the world by discovering talents from the grassroots from school sports.
ISL won the first quarter by 19-10 points, but the brave Morella boys fought back in the second quarter to win at 26-15 points to take a two points lead into the break (36-34).
The Akoka, Lagos-based school rallied back strongly in the third quarter with a 19-06 points win to reclaim their lead going into the last quarter, which both sides shared at 22 points apiece for a cumulative score-line of 75-64 points in favour of the boys from Lagos.
Another Lagos-based school, Doregos Private Academy, won the girls’ category by defeating Marella Girls by 28-26 points. The Marella girls could not control their emotion when the referees blew the whistle to signal the end of the exciting game. Doregos Private Academy also finished third in the boys’ category beating Regal College, Shagamu, Ogun State by 58-30 points.
Their highly excited coach, Akinwole Gbemileke, described the feat of his girls as wonderful and hoped to build on the achievement.
Coordinator of Zone-1, who is the chief organiser of the three-day event, Steve Olarinoye, congratulated all the schools that participated in the championship. The former scribe of Weightlifting Federation of Nigeria, WFN, stated that the mission of the zone is to develop sports from the grassroots.