Basketball in Africa

By Oscar Pilipili

St Austin’s Academy have successfully retained their Rift Valley Academy (RVA) Basketball Cup.

The Nairobi-based school rallied to beat hosts RVA 59-50 in a thrilling final to retain the trophy on Saturday.
The champions ended the annual tournament on a clean sheet after they won all their matches at the picturesque RVA.
David Ogolla was the highest scorer for the champions with 13 points with teammates Kevin Samora and Chidi Antoinne contributing 12 and 10. Richie Ndembe, who displayed a highly tactical game, scored 17 points including one three-pointer for RVA.
Aaron Mead had 10 points to his name and Evan Coots contributed seven for the runners-up. The hosts started the game on an enterprising note and were up 3-0 in the opening two minutes.
The teams exchanged the lead as the game progressed to tie at 20-all at half time.
Whereas the hosts dominated in the 20 minute first half, the visitors were rampant after the breather with Samora, Stephen Kivoto and Julius Mbewa playing the leading role. St Austin’s could have sealed the game at early stages but wasted numerous shot points compared to their opponents who converted virtually all that came their way.
St Austin’s captain Justus Yogomba said afterwards: "It’s good we have retained the trophy. High standards of discipline among our players helped us win the tournament."
His RVA counterpart Coots said both finalists played a good game but St Austin’s were lucky.
"All of us played good basketball but St Austin’s but at the end St Austin’s were better than us," said Coots.
"We might invite them for a friendly match soon," he added. Enroute to the final, St Austin’s defeated provincial rivals Nairobi Jaffery’s 37-32, while RVA overcame St Mary’s, also from Nairobi 38-15 in the semis.
St Austin’s victory over Jaffery’s was a sweet revenge after they lost to their opponents in the provincial semis last year. St Austin’s coach David Maina said: "Every team in the tournament was aiming to beat us because we were the defending champions but we did our level best to overcome the challenge."
Maina said their target is now to win the Nairobi secondary schools’ title.