PRETORIA, South Africa, Apr 5 –Derrick Ogechi scored a high of 22 points to inspire Nairobi City Thunder to wrap up their Basketball Africa League (BAL) season six Kalahari Conference on a high after condemning Rwanda’s RSSB Tigers to their first defeat of the tournament on Sunday at a sold-out SunBet Arena.
City Thunder, who finished with two wins and three losses, beat the Tigers 101-92.
Entering the clash, Thunder had already been eliminated, while the Tigers were the first to secure a spot in the play-offs, slated for Kigali in May.
Thunder dominated the first half with three players hitting the double digits, led by captain Tylor Ogwae, who recorded 14, Nigerian Joshua Nzeakor scored 13, and Lance Thomas scored 10.
Returning for the last half, Ogechi was the stand-out player, managing to score 14 points, adding to the nine that he had recorded in the opening two quarters.
Joining the double-digit squad is Garang Diing, who had 14, while Ogwae wrapped the game with a total of 17, Thomas with 14, and Nzeakor, who had 8 rebounds, finishing with 21.
Eugene Adera contributed the most assists to the Thunder with 8.
Speaking to Capital Sport after the game, Thunder head coach Brad Ibs was delighted with the team’s performance, vowing to come back stronger next season.
“We have played some good basketball in this tournament. Despite not qualifying for the play-offs, we have improved on last year’s performance. We will work on our mistakes, and we will be a solid team,” Ibs said.
On the other hand, the Tigers’ head coach, Henry Mwinuka, said he had to rotate his squad after seeing some of his players suffer injury.
“We played a hard game yesterday, and some of my players, like Ntore Habimana, got injured in the third quarter,” Mwinuka underscored.
Craig Randall, who set two BAL records yesterday in their 104–92 win over Dar City, also sat out.
-Alex Isaboke is reporting from Pretoria, South Africa-
