{"id":285,"date":"2018-08-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/china.chinaacheru.com\/wp\/2018\/08\/04\/kwese-sports-premier-basketball-league-hoopers-talk-tough-as-customs-lie-in-wait\/"},"modified":"2018-08-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-04T00:00:00","slug":"kwese-sports-premier-basketball-league-hoopers-talk-tough-as-customs-lie-in-wait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaacheru.com\/staging\/kwese-sports-premier-basketball-league-hoopers-talk-tough-as-customs-lie-in-wait\/","title":{"rendered":"Kwese Sports Premier Basketball League: Hoopers talk tough as Customs lie in wait"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t<\/span>\"Picture\"<\/a><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

As Rivers Hoopers get set for their seasons\u2019 opener in Lagos against Customs on Thursday, some new recruits have stated their targets for the 2017 Kwese Sports Premier Basketball League season.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Emmanuel Balogun and Solomon Ajagbeyi who joined the team from Nigeria Customs are elated to join the two-time champions of the Nigeria basketball league, Rivers Hoopers and want to consolidate on last season\u2019s outing.<\/font><\/p>\n

Balogun disclosed to Hoopers media that he joined the Port Harcourt based side because of their pedigree.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cI need a bigger team and a bigger platform, a team that has a bigger vision, that\u2019s why I decided to join Hoopers. I want to help the team qualify for the continent,\u201d Balogun stated.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

The former Comets guard who played for Customs for four years was not encouraged to stay for an extra season. He however expressed optimism about achieving his target with the former champions.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cLast season we (Customs) were unable to achieve our goals because of financial problems but I trust Hoopers to achieve that goal.\u201d said Balogun<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

In the same vein, Ajagbeyi who is a left-handed player and nicknamed \u201cBaba Lefty\u201d was modest in his discussion with the club’s media officer, Queen John when she reminded him of his exploits against Hoopers last season.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I always tell people is not to rely on a person hundred percent but I will do my best to make sure we win the championship.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Despite admitting the importance of his addition to the team, lefty says he believes in playing as a unit and not by individual talent.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cMy addition to the team and my other teammates that came together here is a plus to the team and we believe we will deliver positively,\u201d Ajagbayi posited.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Rivers Hoopers, also known as “The Kings Men\u201d will travel to face Customs this Thursday in their first game of the season and the former Customs Power Forward is not prepared to lose to his former side.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cBy God\u2019s grace, we are going to take the game because we can\u2019t afford to lose to customs my former team. All I want to do is to put my possible best and I pray that my other teammates put their best into the game. I believe with this team we have now we will not lose because what they did last season when I was there was not encouraging.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

After sacrificing everything they just fumbled but anyway that is just it , I don\u2019t want to lose to them. I will put my possible best to make sure we win customs.\u201d He declared.<\/font><\/p>\n

The Kings Men will face Nigeria Customs on Thursday April 20 before taking on Police Baton on Saturday April 22 in Lagos.<\/font><\/p>\n

PAST MEETINGS LAST SEASON AGAINST CUSTOMS<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

LAGOS<\/font><\/p>\n

FT Customs 72- 68 Rivers Hoopers March 18<\/font>
FT Customs 71- 85 Rivers Hoopers March 20<\/font><\/p>\n

PORT HARCOURT<\/font><\/p>\n

FT Rivers Hoopers 60-62 Customs April 29<\/font>
OT Rivers Hoopers 70-75 Customs April 30<\/font><\/p>\n

CONFERENCE FINALS<\/font><\/p>\n

FT Customs 71- 68 Rivers Hoopers Day 1 June 7<\/font>
FINAL 8<\/font>
FT Customs 69- 47 Rivers Hoopers<\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Rivers Hoopers get set for their seasons\u2019 opener in Lagos against Customs on Thursday, some new recruits have stated their targets for the 2017 Kwese Sports Premier Basketball League season. Emmanuel Balogun and Solomon Ajagbeyi who joined the team from Nigeria Customs are elated to join the two-time champions of the Nigeria basketball league, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_surecart_dashboard_logo_width":"180px","_surecart_dashboard_show_logo":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_orders":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_invoices":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_subscriptions":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_downloads":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_billing":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_account":true,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"china","author_link":"https:\/\/chinaacheru.com\/staging\/author\/china\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"As Rivers Hoopers get set for their seasons\u2019 opener in Lagos against Customs on Thursday, some new recruits have stated their targets for the 2017 Kwese Sports Premier Basketball League season. Emmanuel Balogun and Solomon Ajagbeyi who joined the team from Nigeria Customs are elated to join the two-time champions of the Nigeria basketball league,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaacheru.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaacheru.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaacheru.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaacheru.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaacheru.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chinaacheru.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaacheru.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaacheru.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaacheru.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}