With one match remaining in the ongoing basketball African clubs champions zone 3 Qualifiers in Lome, Togo, Kano pillars defends its title after beating As Nigelec basketball team of Niger Republic by 71-47 points this evening.
Out of the six teams participating in the competition only Kano Pillars played four games and won all, while the remaining five teams lost two matches each in the four matches they played. And with this development Kano Pillars Basketball Club has qualified to this year’s African Clubs Championship in Egypt.
Kano Pillars, the reigning champions of the FIBA Africa Champions Cup (ACC) Zone 3, and ASPAC of Benin were off to a winning start on Sunday in Lome, Togo.
While Pillars beat Beninese side ElanSportif de Porto Novo 90-75, ASPAC edged out Nigerian Customs 70-51.
The six-team qualifier will see the top two teams advance to the ACC Final Phase to be held in Cairo, Egypt, from 8-17 December.
Despite being bigger and better, Kano Pillars were but bring their international experience to beat a small but quicker opposition. with their captain UsmanAbubakar leading the floor with 22 points making three point shots at will.
Yahaya Abdul added 14 points, while ElanSportif’s trio of Tossou Vivien finished with 19 points, Joel Gnimassou added 18 points and AkpachiRomario came up with 16.
Despite the loss, Aurelius Kouko, the head coach of ElanSportif remained optimistic of his players’ performances, although he lamented the team’s inexperience.
“My team is appearing in a tournament like this for the first time after a long while. They are very young players who are ready to learn. We look forward to doing better in our subsequent games.”
Meanwhile, Sani Ahmed, head coach of Kano Pillars, admitted that the game was a difficult one for them even though they win by 15 points.
The other Nigerian team, Customs were however not as lucky in their first game as ASPAC of Benin made them look ordinary on the court and secured their first win of the qualifiers.
Kano Pillars defends FIBA ACC Zone 3 Title
