Hoopers to battle Raptors for NBA-FIBA BAL ticket

NBBF to livestream President Cup final
Rivers Hoopers and Raptors of Lagos will face off in the final of the 2019 NBBF organised President Cup National Final Eight on Sunday.
Raptors defeated Niger Potters 84-81 points to book their place in the final.
Raptors showed their intention very early in the game as they scored a whooping 33points against Potters who only managed 18 points.
They were able to hold their own against a more experienced Niger side as they ended the first half 42-27 points.
The second half also took a similar pattern, 17-16, 17-25 which saw the team see out the win to the excitement of their fans.
Abel Offia scored 17 points, two assists and seven rebounds.
Akintoye Abiodun scored 16 points and three assists while Ebuka Innocent scored 15 points.
Hoopers beat Kwara Falcons in the other semifinal clash 78-64 points.
In the classification, it was all about the overtime drama between Nigerian Army Rockets and Civil Defenders of Abuja in the second game.
The game went to two overtime sessions when the fourth quarter ended 79 points apiece before the Nigeria Army side forced the first overtime with the scores tied at 89 points.
Army showed their resillience and their strong will to finish strong scoring eight points while Defenders managed only seven points to close out 97-96 points in a game that had all spectators on their feet.
In the other classification game, Islanders ended their NBBF organised President Cup National Final Eight on a high with a 80-73 points win against Benue Braves in the classification game.
Meanwhile, the NBBF says it has concluded plans to broadcast the 2019 NBBF President Cup National Final Eight live.
The live broadcast which will start at 2.00 p.m. is one of the steps being taken by the NBBF board under the leadership of Engr Musa Kida to see the return of basketball on television.
The media representative on the board of the NBBF, Oni Afolabi said that basketball loving Nigerians now have the unique opportunity of watching their favorite sport from anywhere in the world.
“We know that television cannot replace the excitement of a match day experience, but we want to afford all lovers of the game the unique opportunity of watching their favorite players live from any part of the world.”
“Sincere thanks to the visionary leadership of the NBBF President and all the board members who have made this possible. We hope this will be the first of many innovations by the board to keep growing the game.”
According to plans already being put in place, the game will be streamed live on the YouTube and Facebook pages of the federation in a high definition format, which will be the first time games will be streamed live.
Viewers can log on to the NBBF Facebook and YouTube pages (Nigeria Basketball Federation) of the federation to catch the third placed game and the final of the President Cup final 8.
Winner of the competition will represent the country at the 2020 NBA-FIBA Africa organized Basketball League.