Kings have emerged winners of the 2023 OBN Elite Showcase Tournament after defeating The Future in the final on Saturday.
Played at the OBN Academy, Ajah, Lagos, Kings
emerged with a 71 to 67 points win after a thrilling encounter in all four quarters.
Earlier on Saturday, Vedione Voltage edged Risers 65 – 60 to finish third in the four-team tournament which began on Thursday, 19 January.
The tournament was organised by OBN founder and former NBA star, Obinna Ekezie.
And after the conclusion of the final, gifts were handed out to all the four teams that participated.
Players receiving their prizes after the final
And speaking with journalists, Ekezie expressed his delight most especially with the performance of the young talents.
“I’m really excited, this is the 2023 Elite Showcase Tournament and we have four teams made up of young elite players we fished out in the country. These kids have a lot of talent and we wanted to give them the opportunity to come and showcase their talent.
“The goal is to eventually see them advance their skill development and hopefully they will be able to get the opportunity for high school in the United States and hopefully offer them scholarships.
“My experience being a former NBA player, my dream has always been to comeback and put some kind of infrastructure that would give kids in Nigeria the opportunity to enhance their education through basketball.“
On some of the talented kids who have had the opportunity to pass through the OBN academy and are currently in the United States on scholarships, Ekezie said:“Right now we have several kids few of them in Kentucky and a couple of them in California. All of them are doing excellently well and what is important for me is their academic performance. And I always harp on them to take their academics very seriously. Though they are playing basketball and they are talented kids but the most important thing is for them to use basketball to get an education. Truth is basketball will end one day so the most important thing is to use basketball to get an education and they are doing well academically and I’m very proud of them.
“Unfortunately we had a kid that had a stroke but with God’s intervention and the family that is taking care of him he has now fully recovered and is on his way back to playing. That just shows you the opportunity these kids in terms of good medical and support, the attention from all the families and the schools that work with us and we are very proud of those achievements.”
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