Hoops N’ Read Pulverize Kwara Falcons,Extends Unbeaten Run To 3 In The Abridged NBBF Men’s Premier League 

…Coaches, players moan over low standard Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium basketball court

By Oluwatobiloba Zeal-Adepetu Kumoye in Benin City, Edo State

Exceptional and impressive, Hoops N’ Read basketball club of Lagos extend their unbeaten run in the abridged Nigeria Basketball Federation, (NBBF) Men’s Premier League to three.

The Lagos kings, took Kwara Falcons by storm on Tuesday, sweeping aside the birds of prey from Ilorin 94-48 at the basketball courts of Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, Edo State.

Hoops N’ Read hit hard and fast in the first quarter with the cagers from the State of Harmony, barely holding on as they fell woefully with a massive 21 points margin, it ended 30-9.

The slamming and dunking giants from the Center of Excellence did not relent in bombarding Kwara Falcons in the second quarter, with a healthy 40 points lead it was 59-19 on the scoreboard.

The third quarter came with a reload of bullets for Hoops N’ Read as they fired relentlessly and effortlessly on hapless and weak Kwara Falcons who lacked connection and teamwork, bringing the scores to 77-33.

It was the final nail in the coffin for Kwara Falcons and icing on the cake for Hoops N’ Read as they increased the scores to 94-48, bringing an end to the exciting and fun Match Day 3 encounter.

Head Coach of Kwara Falcons speaking with your authoritative and award-winning news channel FIRST ZEALMEDIACAST BLOG after the game attributed the woeful and disgraceful loss to the low and shambolic state of the basketball court.

The coach bitterly complained saying the basketball court portrays the country in bad light as the first tier league is played in such despicable conditions, moreover players barely have a grip on the court leading to numerous injuries and falls.

“The low standard of the court and the poor lighting definitely affected the team a lot, it affects everything, I don’t want to say much, you know how Nigeria is, but we have to play, that’s what we have been presented with and we have to make use of what we have, but I must say, the condition is not the way it’s supposed to be,” he added.

Adding his voice to speak about the shambolic state of the court, Kwara Falcons player, Chinedu Nwaoga, labeled the basketball courts as bad for playing.

“The basketball court is very bad because most of us couldn’t move well. And it’s not a wooden floor, it’s a hard ground, and it tells so much on our bodies after the games and stuff like that. And then the rims too, I don’t think they are good rims because anyways, Nigeria, that’s how everything is,” he exclaimed.

In a bid to make up for the lack of electricity in the stadium the Nigeria Basketball Federation has shifted the timing of the matches with the first game starting by 8:30 and final of 4 games starting by 2:00.

Speaking about his team’s performance he said.

We played to our strengths, We were a bit shaky because they were putting a lot of pressure on us and we just allowed them to get into our head we are coming back stronger next year, the other team is a bit stronger, but then it’s a game of basketball, anything can happen. You can switch it up.

We will improve as a team in every ramification, from our shooting, to the big guys, the guards, we will come back stronger and better in our subsequent games.

The poor state of the court coupled with series of air balls and the lack of communication among the new team members signalled Kwara Falcons loss, said the coach.

“I won’t be happy the way we played because that’s not what we expected. Well, anybody that knows Kwara Falcons, knows that the team that we brought is new, they are just new guys, for most of them, this is the first time of playing this kind of competition, intense game and everything, which is understandable,” he expressed.

“They played a, I can’t say their superior team, I mean, a team that have more chemistry. They’ve been together for a long time. They’ve played a lot of matches together.So they have that kind of advantage over us, which is understandable because you can’t take the experience away from them,” the coach stressed.

He went on to state that the loss to Hoops N’ Read highlighted various areas of improvement.

“We have a lot of room to improve this game that we played it’s expected. It’s not a game that, hey, they won, fine, but it’s like a test game for us. So I think all in all it’s a very good game for both teams at least. No matter what happened, there’s gain and there’s a loss here. And I think we gained more than the loss we had here,” he said.

“Oh, definitely we are going to improve more on our ball rotation. Then how to be able to withstand any team that comes our way. But the simple thing that Hoops N’ Read did was just to raise the intensity of the defense, that’s the only thing, not that they have anything much, you know. So just have to work on that,” he concluded.

Hoops N’ Read on Match Day 4 have a date to keep with Delta Force by 2pm.