NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 25 – A spirited performance from Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in the final game of the best of five final series saw them beat Ulinzi Warriors 80-61 and dethrone them as the men’s national basketball league champions at the Nyayo Gymnasium on Monday evening.
Defending champions Warriors had come from 2-1 down to force the decider after winning game four on Sunday, but they couldn’t complete the job on home court as the dockers put to an end the army side’s dominance of the national league.
KPA led in all but the last quarter, their dominant and spirited display proving too much to handle for the Warriors who were wasteful with their shooting in and beyond the arc.
The military side rallied in the last quarter to narrow a 20-point gap at the end of the third quarter, but it was too little too late as KPA had done just but enough to secure the title.
“Today we didn’t balance the court well and we were not efficient with our rebounds. We couldn’t adjust quickly when KPA came at us and it was just a bad day in office. When we trailed we started trying many times shooting on threes but it didn’t work. I told them to ditch the plan and try to play for twos. In a final like this when you go behind by more than six points, then it becomes hard for you,” said William Balozi, the Warriors head coach.
His opposite number Sammy Kiki was elated.
“We had a post-mortem after gave four where we lost and we had a look at what we did wrong and what we did right. We had some problems in defense and we sorted that out and then we better what we did in offense. That helped us a lot and I am delighted to stand here and say we are the 2021-22 KBF champions,” he stated.
Job Byron was unstoppable for KPA sinking 19 points and seven rebounds while the duo of Most Valuable Player Ken Wachira and Tobias Odhiambo both had 15 points to their names. Wachira was one rebound away from a double double as he totalled nine picks from the rim.
While Wachira, Omondi and Odhiambo were leading in scores, the diminutive point guard Lennox Wange was the team’s spin-man as he pushed the team forward, launching plays and organizing the court with prowess.
He earned 11 points for the dockers, nine of them coming from beyond the arc.
James Mwangi was Ulinzi’s highest scorer with a double double, totalling 17 points and 14 rebounds while skipper Eric Mutoro collected 15 points for the side. Despite the collective effort of the two, they couldn’t savour a comeback for the military men.
KPA had a strong start and led from the start, Wange’s shot beyond the arc lighting the capacity crowd at the Indoor Arena alive. Ulinzi had a disastrous start and called for a time out with 4:05 to play with an eight point deficit, trailing 13-5.
But, KPA maintained their start with Wange swinging two consecutive threes as they led 26-19 at the end of the opening quarter.
They kept the same momentum, Ulinzi finding it hard to provide answers as the dockers went to the halftime break with a nine-point lead, sitting 41-32 up. Mutoro had attempted to reduce the gap at the buzzer with a shot beyond the arc, but it bounced off the rim, summarising their disappointing output thus far.
KPA totally dominated the third quarter and with 5:00 gone on the clock, they had established an 18-point gap with Wachira’s clutch three-pointer underscoring their prowess.
Ulinzi called a time out with 4:27 to play but it did little to reduce the damage as KPA established a 20-point gap heading into the last quarter.
The soldiers outscored KPA in the fourth quarter 18-17, but it was too little too late as the damage was long done.
