Erstwhile champions of the Zenith Bank League, First Deepwater, were beaten 56-53 by AHIP in a keenly-contested game played in Asaba on Tuesday. The result has pushed up the stakes of the AHIP ladies for a place in the final play-offs in Lagos but coach of the team, Wilson Idanwenkai, played down the race for the play-offs when he spoke with the media. He said his team was not desperate to play in the Final-8 but were rather more interested in playing quality basketball and helping to make the results from the competition quite unpredictable.
He said, “We had a nice game against Deepwater and it was good that it ended in our favour. However, the referees looked like they were acting out a script and that’s a bad development. It appears to me like some of the teams are desperate to qualify for the Final-8. We are not desperate to make the play-offs.
“What my organisation is concerned about is to develop players that will become top players in future. We are not in the league to win-at-all-cost, but add glamour to it by training players to become stars. We don’t want to be part af any group that is desperate for laurels.”
In some other matches decided yesterday, IGP Queens beat Taraba Hurricanes 61-22, Customs lost to GT 2000 38-39, Benue Princess defeated Plateau Rock, while Zamfara Babes lost to immigration 36-44.
