20 April 2013
KENYA : Upper Hill Rock Maseno in Basketball Showdown
Upper Hill School from Nairobi Metropolitan beat 2010 Kenya Secondary School basketball champions Maseno from the Lake region 74-43 to finish top of Pool "A" at the ongoing Brookside national games at Mang'u High yesterday.
Upper Hill sounded their intent right from the start as they rallied to a 23-10 advantage in the first quarter.
Maseno had themselves to blame after missing a glut of chances. The script was somewhat the same in the second but the free scoring tendency of Upper Hill was dimmed despite running away 8-5 winners.
Upper Hill, a national centre of excellence, exerted their dominance as they went 33-15 up in into the break.
Maseno put up a spirited fight in the third quarter as they tried to rally back into the game, clawing a 14-14 score to trail 47-29.
Sensing danger, Upper Hill - who play in the Kenya Basketball League and coached by national coach Ronnie Owino - intensified their offence, hitting a massive 26 points against Maseno's 15 in the final quarter.
Francis Muthui had a game high score of 21 for Maseno while Upper Hill, who are hunting for their maiden title, had Joseph Ongoro as their top scorer with 19.
Despite the loss, Maseno progressed to the semis since they had already won their first two matches against Shimba and Kapsabet.
Shimba Hills beat Kapasabet 77-36 in the other pool "A" formality encounter. Shimba won all the quarters 21-13, 15-9, 13-10 and 26-4 to take the bronze medal.
Upper Hill sounded their intent right from the start as they rallied to a 23-10 advantage in the first quarter.
Maseno had themselves to blame after missing a glut of chances. The script was somewhat the same in the second but the free scoring tendency of Upper Hill was dimmed despite running away 8-5 winners.
Upper Hill, a national centre of excellence, exerted their dominance as they went 33-15 up in into the break.
Maseno put up a spirited fight in the third quarter as they tried to rally back into the game, clawing a 14-14 score to trail 47-29.
Sensing danger, Upper Hill - who play in the Kenya Basketball League and coached by national coach Ronnie Owino - intensified their offence, hitting a massive 26 points against Maseno's 15 in the final quarter.
Francis Muthui had a game high score of 21 for Maseno while Upper Hill, who are hunting for their maiden title, had Joseph Ongoro as their top scorer with 19.
Despite the loss, Maseno progressed to the semis since they had already won their first two matches against Shimba and Kapsabet.
Shimba Hills beat Kapasabet 77-36 in the other pool "A" formality encounter. Shimba won all the quarters 21-13, 15-9, 13-10 and 26-4 to take the bronze medal.
# posted by afrbk : 16:29
