(by Olusegun Ikuesan)
Union Bank basketball club at the weekend defeated one-time champion of the Nigeria league Comets basketball club in a local derby at the sports hall of the national stadium, Lagos by 71-63 points.
The week-13 Atlantic conference pairing of the DStv Premier Basketball League kept fans at the edge of their seat throughout the forty minutes duration of the game as both sides gave a good of account of themselves with Union Bank basketball club going down by 16-24 points in the first quarter but rose to the occasion in the second quarter taking the quarter by 19-09 point to go into the break with a 35-33 points advantage.
The Stallion boys as the bankers are also referred to was pushed back into their territory in the third quarter with Comets catching in on the frequent turn-over by Union Bank BC a situation which made the team head coach, Ayinla Johnson to be on his feet for the entire duration of the quarter which they lost by 10-17 points for a five points decifit entering the last quarter.
With defeat staring Union Bank BC in the face the bench and the players rally round each other to upstage Coach Ayo Bakare and his Comets side in the last quarter with so much determination and team-work running away with a 26-13 points to carry the day by 71-63 points.
With Saturday victory Union Bank thus possess the best record in the Atlantic conference 12-1 as their closest rival Royal Hoopers basketball club of Port Harcourt has a 11-2 record after seeing off Islanders basketball club of Lagos by 83-43 points at the Civic Centre, Port Harcourt on Sunday while third placed Comets is now 8-5 enough to guarantee them a place in the final-8 playoffs cut leaving the fourth slot in the Atlantic conference to either Dodan Warriors basketball club or Islanders basketball club.