Basketball in Africa

by SAMMY KITULA


Moses Wanjala scored 26 points, Tiberius Menya matched his season high with 17 and boys’ basketball defending champions, Maseno School stayed on track for Saturday’s final with a hard-fought 59-55 victory over St Austin’s.

Maseno will face Laiser Hill Academy in the final after the latter crushed Friends’ School Kamusinga 108-59 in the other semi.

In the Maseno game, Menya hit three 3-pointers and grabbed six rebounds after a pleading pre-game pep talk from coach Paul Otula, while Innocent Odhiambo added 13 points and nine rebounds as Maseno won their fourth straight game.

The defending champions’ victory over an exhausted opponent wasn’t a walk in the park though, as they had Michael Otula, Innocent Odhiambo and Wanjala fouled out in the third quarter.

“It was a very tight and tensionpacked contest. Each player of either teams was trying to get the advantage lead, but it wasn’t getting easy,” said Otula.

Charles Omondi sat out in the fourth quarter with a strained left wrist, yet Simon Oyamo seamlessly filled his minutes with good rebounding and acumen for tough shots - including last-second scores at the end of the first and third quarters.

Dependable forward

“We’ve been looking for some consistency,” St Austin’s coach, David Mania, said of his enigmatic guard. “We need him to play well, and we want to have some idea of what’s going to happen, and whether we can depend on him,” he added.

So closely contested the match was, that saw both teams tie seven times, five in the last half. “We tied up seven times in the game, which shows how closely fought the match was,” said Otula.

Edwin Otula had 16 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists as Maseno extended their win against their long-time rivals at the nationals, to three. St Austin’s, who last won the national title in 2004, will have themselves to blame after missing 24 free-throw shots.

Last year’s national games’ MVP, Kevin Samora couldn’t get the shots, converting only four out of 12 that came his way.

“I just can’t tell what went wrong with our shots. We weren’t getting them right. I guess we were tensed up during the match,” said Samora.

Maseno weren’t the only ones with foul trouble, as their dependable forward guard, David Ogolla was sent off in the third quarter after committing five personal fouls.

Spirited combination

“Immediately Ogolla was sent off, our game changed drastically. It was a big blow to us, owing to the fact that he is a very dependable player.

Both teams played under immense pressure, with possession being surrendered with ease.

A spirited combination of Otula junior, Menya and Wanjala, ensured that they won most of their balls in their court; made successful drives into the opponent’s territory and provided entertaining dummies in the process and take a 57-55 lead with only 1:03 left in the last quarter.

In the other semi-final, Kamusinga suffered at the hands of Laiser Hill Academy. Surprisingly, Kamusinga took an early lead of 19-5 within the first eight minutes of the first quarter, but surrendered it in ways the head coach, Joseph Were, couldn’t understand.

“I just don’t know how we gave in, but I must commend my young team for their mode of play. For us, we are very much contended with that result, as this was our first time at the nationals,” said Were.

Determined to spoil their opponents’ short-lived victory party, Laiser came out strongly in the second quarter, taking full control of the game, to lead 43-29. Taila Okari scored 18 points for Kamusinga, who simply seemed exhausted after their Thursday loss to Maseno.

“We ran out of gas,” Were said. “They came in here with some rested legs. We played a hard-fought game on Thursday with only seven or eight players. You can’t always say that’s an excuse, but you can just tell we ran out of gas,” he added.