Oyo State Male Basketball team attended the National Sports Festival Trial on Wednesday in Osun State, and it was a juggling act for Team Oyo State’s Coach. He said, “It is an opportunity to see a roster filled with newcomers and young players react to their first game together”.

The coach said before the match he would go deep into the bench because the measure of success on his team will be the eye test of the team’s collective effort.

By all accounts, the past week of practice has had a satisfactory level of intensity and competition. “It’s pretty different compared to other basketball tournaments,” He also added. “In the National Sports Festival Trials, everybody is good.

Everybody is competing for a job and everybody is coming to work 100% on the day. So you got to make sure you just step on the court like it’s your last time playing and give your 100%.”

The Oyo state male basketball team jumped out to an 8-point lead in the first quarter, but the talent of the Osun state male basketball team ultimately proved to be too much. Nothing went right for the Oyo state male basketball team on Wednesday and it left them grasping for positives.

For the first time, the Osun state male basketball team defeated the Oyo state male basketball team in a competitive game when they met at the National sports festival trials on 5th October.

The Osun state male basketball team shocked the Oyo state male basketball team, 51-48, on Wednesday afternoon in Lanreleke sports academy, Osun state. After the game, the Oyo state coach and players discussed the loss.

Coach Bayo said, “It’s a great opportunity for us to learn”. Nevertheless, one of the positive takeaways was that there was only room for improvement. The Oyo state male basketball team certainly showed their strength against them but it was not enough. A 12-4 run by the Osun state male basketball team in the third quarter was ultimately the difference.

The Oyo state team jumped out to a 14-8 lead in the first quarter, as most points came from their center to open things up. But the Osun state basketball team put together a 12-0 run in the second quarter to take the lead to 24-18 right before the half. Another 9-0 gave Osun state plenty of momentum heading into the locker room, as they led 33-21.

Yet, it was the Oyo State team who took seize of momentum coming out of the half, as they used fast break points to cut the lead down to four. However, it was the fourth quarter when the Osun state team took advantage of the sluggish fouls by the Oyo state team and capitalized on it.

By Nkemakolam Anthony
Basketball Scouts

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