Basketball in Africa

Posta beat rivals World Hope 105-64 in an all-Nairobi final to be declared the new inter-provincial basketball champions at the Nairobi's Railway Club on Sunday.

Posta, who had dismissed World Hope 3-0 in the Nairobi Basketball Association (NBA) play-offs to win the league title, had another chance to prove wrong coach George Namake's boys.

It was Ken Ondiek who sent World Hope into early panic by nailing four three-pointers in the first quarter. Ondiek's shooting magic saw him contribute 18 points as Posta led 38-12 in the first quarter. World Hope remained on the receiving end as Posta, who paraded their top cream players including international Ben Oluoch and Ronnie Owino, had little opposition.

Posta exploded into a 50-31 half-time lead. World Hope could not contain pressure in the third quarter, in which Daniel Imbali found himself scoring a rare, own basket.

Oluoch crossed the century mark at 101-57 with five minutes 24 seconds left leaving Posta's coach Robert Mwangi a relaxed man as the game's fate had been decided.

Eliminated Vijana

Ondiek and Oluoch each scored 30 points, while Franklin Delano added 20 for Posta. Evans Orenge shot 14 points, Eric Kayere scored 11 and team-mate Imbali replied with 10 for the losers. Posta qualified for the final of the two-day event after eliminating Rift Valley's Vijana 76-23 in the semis, while World Hope knocked out Kenya College of Accountancy (KCA) 94-80.

This year's tournament had a poor turn out with only nine teams taking part. Nairobi entered six teams; Posta, World Hope, Outsidaz, Kenya Polytechnic, Team Jam and KCA. Rift Valley had Vijana, while Central was represented by Baraka, Kenyatta University and Thika Institute.

Branches snubbed event

Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) branches; Coast, Nyanza, Eastern and North Eastern, did not send their teams for the annual tournament, which determines the two clubs to be promoted to the men's Division One League.

Kenya Ports Authority won last year's cup in Kisumu to qualify for this year's Division One league. They won the pre-season with 33 points to book a ticket for the pre-season play-offs to battle for a place in the 2008 Premier League.

Elsewhere, Kenya Ports Authority women's basketball team registered crucial wins in Mombasa to make sure of a place into the play-offs of this year's National Classic Basketball League.

Hitherto placed at position five behind Yana Milele who have completed their assignments, KPA posted one of their best performances at the Coast, beating United States International University (USIU) 63-29 on Saturday and Eagle Wings 48-46 on Sunday.

KPA, who got a walkover on Friday after Kisumu Cruisers failed to turn up, now tie on 28 points with Eagle Wings and Sprite Storms.