08 September 2012
KENYA : Nairobi beats Mombasa in All Stars basketball
Updated on 08/09/12 | By BRIAN AYIEKO
Veteran Kenya Ports Authority point guard Dan Okwiri was unstoppable on Friday evening in the September edition of Friday Night Basketball despite his side Mombasa select losing to their Nairobi counterparts 86-77. In a team dubbed as ‘All Stars’ where the players were picked from the different KBF premier league teams and the Division One, the Nairobi side started positively much to the delight of the fully packed gymnasium hitting Mombasa 21-13 in the first quarter.
Titus Musembi who turns out for the 2011 KBF Premier League Champions Co-op bank as point guard pulled the strings for the Capital boys in the 1st and 2nd quarter managing some superb three point shots that helped Nairobi win the second quarter with a five points margin beating Coast boys 27 - 22.
In the third quarter, Okwiri proved just why he was named Most Valuable Player in the competition with impressive drives and defense splitting passes though his side did not utilize his efforts well missing out on crucial points. Okwiri managed four three pointers in the quarter.
On the other end, USIU’s Ramadhan Aaron was on fire with his powerful drives and dunks thanks to the combination of his team mate Evans Leting and Thunder captain/guard point Griffins Ligare who also had a good outing managing to confirm 2 of his 3 point throws. The show of might in the third quarter ended with an 18 all sharing of spoils.
The last quarter saw a much more charged Mombasa side with Okwiri once more in the frontline of every attack. This paid off and for the first time in the match Coast took control of the quarter getting 24 points while their opponents had 20 points.Despite taking the quarter the defensive efforts of Co-op’s bank James Mwangi was outstanding with 3 direct blocks that prevented Mombasa from taking more points. It was too late for the Coastal comeback.
Speaking after the match Griffins Ligare appreciated the level of competitiveness in the match and pointed out that Kenyan basketball has a lot to offer, “As you have seen the level of competition is very high. If the management of Kenyan basketball can step up then there is a lot to offer.”
Titus Musembi who turns out for the 2011 KBF Premier League Champions Co-op bank as point guard pulled the strings for the Capital boys in the 1st and 2nd quarter managing some superb three point shots that helped Nairobi win the second quarter with a five points margin beating Coast boys 27 - 22.
In the third quarter, Okwiri proved just why he was named Most Valuable Player in the competition with impressive drives and defense splitting passes though his side did not utilize his efforts well missing out on crucial points. Okwiri managed four three pointers in the quarter.
On the other end, USIU’s Ramadhan Aaron was on fire with his powerful drives and dunks thanks to the combination of his team mate Evans Leting and Thunder captain/guard point Griffins Ligare who also had a good outing managing to confirm 2 of his 3 point throws. The show of might in the third quarter ended with an 18 all sharing of spoils.
The last quarter saw a much more charged Mombasa side with Okwiri once more in the frontline of every attack. This paid off and for the first time in the match Coast took control of the quarter getting 24 points while their opponents had 20 points.Despite taking the quarter the defensive efforts of Co-op’s bank James Mwangi was outstanding with 3 direct blocks that prevented Mombasa from taking more points. It was too late for the Coastal comeback.
Speaking after the match Griffins Ligare appreciated the level of competitiveness in the match and pointed out that Kenyan basketball has a lot to offer, “As you have seen the level of competition is very high. If the management of Kenyan basketball can step up then there is a lot to offer.”
# posted by afrbk : 13:22
