NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 11 – Equity Dumas survived a late rally from Africa Nazarene University (ANU) Wolfpacks to bounce back from last weekend’s loss to Kenya Ports Authority with a nervy 72-66 victory in the Kenya Basketball Federation men’s Premier League at the Nyayo Gymnasium.
Dumas will be thankful for a ruthless first quarter that saw them create a 20-point lead, with the University lads putting up a fight in the second half of the game but their comeback came short.
“I am happy we bounced back with a win. It was a tough match and we were lucky because of how we started the match. We were not disciplined in our play and we were not aggressive in both ends of the board. ANU are a very good team and they gave us a run for our money today,” said Dumas head coach Carey Odhiambo.
He added; “We need to make so many improvements but we will do so a step at a time.”
Victor Ochieng was Equity’s highest scorer with 17. Two others, Feisal Aden and Faheem Juma hit double digit figures as Equity picked the win.
ANU’s Marial James was a menace for Equity especially in the last two quarters and he managed a game high 23 points, with three efforts from beyond the arch converting.
Equity had a good start to the match and a pair of three pointers from Ochieng and another from the returning Feisal saw Equity sit comfortably in the lead.
With 4:46 to play, Ochieng dropped another from beyond the arch prompting ANU to a time out, scores standing at 17-6. But it did little to reduce the damage as Equity went on a 12-3 scoring run to open a 20-point gap at the end of the opening quarter, scores at 29-9.
The bankers kept the momentum in the second quarter and kept the students at arm’s length. With 3:56 to play and Equity extending the gap to 23 points with another fast break, ANU utilized another time-out.
It did little to work some magic as Equity went to the break with a healthy 25 point gap.
ANU’s Marial James was a menace for Equity especially in the last two quarters and he managed a game high 23 points, with three efforts from beyond the arch converting.
Equity had a good start to the match and a pair of three pointers from Ochieng and another from the returning Feisal saw Equity sit comfortably in the lead.
With 4:46 to play, Ochieng dropped another from beyond the arch prompting ANU to a time out, scores standing at 17-6. But it did little to reduce the damage as Equity went on a 12-3 scoring run to open a 20-point gap at the end of the opening quarter, scores at 29-9.
The bankers kept the momentum in the second quarter and kept the students at arm’s length. With 3:56 to play and Equity extending the gap to 23 points with another fast break, ANU utilized another time-out.
It did little to work some magic as Equity went to the break with a healthy 25 point gap.
In the second half, things were different, with the capacity crowd strongly behind ANU.
They were off to an electric start and they slowly began to eat into Equity’s lead. Coach Odhiambo had to make a change with Wolfpack slowly narrowing the gap and with 3:37 to play and ANU coming to within 15 points, he had to bring in Faheem and Feisal.
The gap was back to 20 points at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, things were tougher for the bankers as ANU went on the rampage. The lanky Marial proved to be a menace for the Equity defense, despite ‘Electric’ Ochieng being tasked to man mark him.
They went on a 5-0 scoring run within the first minute and a half with Victor Mwoka’s dunk opening a seven point gap before Equity called a timeout to address the slump.
While Marial was tightly marked, he changed tact from trying to battle his way to the board by drawing fouls, but unlucky for him his conversion from the free throw line wasn’t as perfect.
Equity were hanging on a thread and they had to call another timeout with 54.8 to play after a third consecutive turnover had seen ANU go to within nine points.
Despite pressure and defending from high in the court, ANU couldn’t stage a massive comeback as they came just short of another huge victory.
