St. John’s Antigua- First Vice-President of Antigua & Barbuda Basketball Association (ABBA) Vere Cornelius said the just ended 2012 national season has been a successful one.

The season ended last weekend at JSC Sports Complex with Baldwin Braves and F&G Ovals capturing the First and Second Division play-off titles respectively.

Cornelius said the ABBA executive is quite pleased to have completed a successful season despite the absence of a major title sponsor.

“We felt it was a very good season. We had some challenges in terms of a title sponsor for the leagues, but with our limited resources we felt we did an excellent job in pulling off the entire season in both first and second divisions,” Cornelius said.

“We are also happy that we were able to finish the season in a reasonable time so the players could get the time to enjoy the summer festival.”

Cool & Smooth, Inet and Stag were the main contributors in providing ABBA with sponsorship to administrate and complete the just ended season.

Cornelius said ABBA has also been able to fulfil its commitment to the referees by providing them with a stipend to officiate the games during the season.

“The refereeing is the one that we really had to take care of and that has been settled. We have been able to pay the referees in full for the 2012 season,” Cornelius said.

“The table officials are actually a voluntary group and we give them a small stipend or we take them out for a dinner or something after the season is over just to show our appreciation. But basically they volunteer their time and services.”

Yorks Crushers won the division one round-robin league title, while F&G Ovals also captured the Second Division league crown.

Champions Ovals and runners-up Freetown Travellers have been promoted to First Division next season.

Dwight Gardner Yogi Warriors of Parham and Inet Ottos have been demoted to Second Division competition next season.