10th July, 2013
On 6 July, 2013, inside the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos, International School, Lagos, ISL, outdunked their opponents from St. Joseph Secondary School, Makurdi, Benue State by 57-49 points to win the 15th edition of the MILO Secondary Schools Championship.
ISL’s triumph in the all secondary schools championship still appears to many pundits of the sports as a fairytale.
The Lagos state University-owned secondary school’s team started the championship as an unknown entity as they were not expected to make it out of the regional playoffs.
And indeed, ISL failed to qualify from the western conference regional playoff which was held in Ibadan Oyo state but via the best loser’s channel, they finally got a ticket to represent Lagos State in the annual basketball tourney sponsored by Nestle Nigeria PLC.
“Nobody gave us a chance,” head coach of ISL, Ernest Ijeoma told P.M.NEWS Sports in an interview after the pulsating grand finale.
“Nobody thought we could even qualify from our tough group that included teams from the northern parts of the country that are renowned for playing basketball.
“But after the draw in Lagos, we believed we could win and play with anyone,” Ijeoma stated.
Coach Ijeoma had good reason to believe. With school’s examinations lurking in the corner, he crafted the team’s training schedules with an eye towards the grand slam finals, scheduling friendly games with other schools’ teams.
When the finals eventually began, ISL won both games they played in their and were competitive in all.
In their first group match against Government Boys’ College, Funtua, Kastina, ISL won by 31-29 points.
The victory was followed with a bigger margin triumph, 35-30, against St. Joseph Secondary School, Makurdi, Benue State.
In the semi final tie against International School of Rivers State University of Science and Technology, RSUST, from Rivers, ISL won by 48-38 points.
Commenting after they defeated St. Joseph Secondary School, Makurdi, Benue State by 57-49 points in the final match, coach Ijeoma said: “I am very excited to finally win this competition today (Saturday) because it has been tough for us to lay our hands on the title after several trials. “We played against a very determined team who gave us tough times when we played them in the group stage. “We are glad to be crowned champions today after the Benue team led for most of the match.
“But through hardwork and dedication of my players, we were able to comeback in the last 30 seconds and snatch a victory.”
When asked if the low rating they got prior to the start of the tourney was a factor in their play through out the championship, Faniran Bolu, the Most Value Player of the tourney, answered with an emphatic, “Yes, it made us to work hard for all the games.”
The boys from Government Secondary School, Minna, Niger state finished third after they defeated International School of River State University of Science and Technology, RSUST, 51-39 in the third place match.
For their effort, ISL got a cash prize of N150,000, while the1st and 2nd runners up went home with cash prizes of N120,000 and N100,000 respectively, accompanied with other sports items from the sponsor of the championship, Nestle Nigeria PLC. For the Girls’ category, St. Jude Girls’ Secondary School, Amarata, Bayelsa state defeated Government Secondary School, Gboko, Benue state, 26-18 to retain the title they won last year.
Yejide Girls Grammar School, Ibadan, Oyo state out-dunked Government Day Girls Secondary School, Gusua, Zamfara state 25-24 in the third place match. All the winners in both categories would represent Nigeria at various youths tourneys in the USA, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates later in the year, according to the Category Business Manager of Nestle PLC, Mrs Doja Ekeruche, who spoke at the closing ceremony.
—Bamidele Olowosagba