Basketball in Africa

Kenya Ports Authority won basketball title at the 31st edition of the Kenya Communication Sports Organisation (Kecoso) Games that ended on Saturday by beating defending champions Postal Corporation 52-51 in a thrilling encounter at the Machakos Municipal Stadium.

The tension-packed duel, which was watched by the African Basketball Association’s Zone Five president, Dennis Aluanga, was a minute per minute thriller with Postal Corporation showing all signs of defending the trophy they won last year from their rivals until their defence broke up in the dying minutes of play.

The Coastal side will thank their hard-working player Mickey Wana who scored the winning basket with just eight seconds left.

The losers controlled the better part of the match but cracked in the dying minutes allowing KPA danger men Wana, captain Fred Odongo and James Odhiambo room to penetrate their guard.

KPA’s coach Sammy Kiki, in a post-match interview, admitted that they were lucky to beat their arch rivals.

“They played well and dominated the first minutes of play, at intervals I kept telling my boys to defend and absorb the pressure the tactics paid dividends,” Kiki said.

During last year’s finals in Nakuru, KPA were the defending champions but lost out to Posta.

Sweet revenge

“This time around we have earned a sweet revenge”, said Kiki. Posta coach Duncan Nalwenge said his boys played well but paid heavily for mistakes they should have avoided.

“I am not blaming my players, they played as per instructions but small mistakes here and their saw us lose steam and lost the lead we had taken up early”, said Nalwenge.