Showtyme Hoopers Emerge Champions Of 4th Grassroot Basketball Competition

Showtyme Hoopers Emerge Champions Of 4th Grassroot Basketball Competition

By Admin

Showtyme Hoopers Basketball Club of Ibadan emerged champions of the 4th Grassroot Basketball Competition after defeating defending Champions, Beavers Basketball Academy of Lagos 59-51 on Wednesday evening at the Lekan Salami Stadium.

On their road to final, Showtyme hoopers defeated Vision basketball club (37-27) in their opening match, before beating Liberty Spears (38-25) in the second match. Hoop Dreams fell to the champions (37-33).

Showtyme outran The Polytechnic Ibadan in the semi-final (43-25) before handing an 8-point gap (59-51) final scores to Beavers in the final to win the competition.

Speaking with BCOS’ Boluwaji Ogunmola, Head Coach of Showtyme Hoopers, Musa Oziegbe Kenneth, attributed his team's success to his player’s ability to interpret his instructions on the court.

“From the blast of the whistle, we had a plan of going to the final and not dropping a game to any of our opponent, thank God, collectively we all did, that’s why we are walking away with the Championship,” he said.

“My boys played their hearts out, they game 110% on the floor, they were undersized compared to their opponent, but determination and hard work got us to where we are,” he concluded.

Hoop Dreams finished third, following their (66-59) win over The Polytechnic of Ibadan in the Third-place match decided earlier in the day.

The champions, Showtyme, smiled to the bank to cash out the sum of Three hundred thousand naira (N300,000) as prize money for winning the championship while Beavers, the runners-up, got N200,000. Third-placed, Hoop Dreams got N100,000 as prize money.

Winners of the various competitions like Free throw, 3 point shot and half-court shot went home with Ten thousand naira (N10,000) each.

The tournament, which is in its fourth year, has consistently provided a platform for budding basketball players to showcase their skills, fostering a sense of community and talent discovery. It has also served as a launching ground for many young basketballers who have subsequently represented their states and even the national teams.

The convener of the initiative, Seyi Owolabi, a former player of Oyo State Basketball team called on well-meaning individuals in the society to join hands together to develop the sport of basketball even as he plans to make the event bigger and better going forward.

“The aim remains to engage youths meaningfully, develop coaches and officials in Oyo State. This edition will be the last of this kind, as were looking to change a lot of things for better, we want to make it international next year, invite more teams from in and out of the country. We need more partners and sponsors to come in so that we can take this grassroot competition to the next level, as this is one of the biggest grassroot competition in Oyo State,” he concluded.