Basketball in Africa

United States International University - Africa ascended to the leadership of the Kenya Basketball Federation men's league after winning all their matches at the weekend.
Equally impressive were Co-operative Bank (the defending champions) and Ulinzi Warriors who also won their two league matches.
Following their wins at the weekend, USIU-A now lead the league with 22 points. The students kicked off their weekend harvest with a 73-42 win over Kenyatta University Pirates in a game they led 47-20 at halftime.
Abel Nson scored 27 points to lead USIU-A in winning all quarters 19-7, 28-13, 14-11 and 12-11 respectively. Pirates’ highest scorer was Jackton Agunda with 17 points.
On Sunday, USIU-A beat Nakuru Club 80-60 to bag maximum points. Samuel Odera scored 11 points for the students with James Okerio top scoring for Nakuru on 14.
Co-op Bank convincingly beat Blazers 84-40 on Saturday. The top scorers for the bankers were Frederick Odongo and Titus Musembi who had 30 points each.
The champions led 44-18 at the breather and swept home all the quarters 22-10, 22-8, 12-8 and 28-14. Joel Wafula scored 13 points for Blazers.
In their second match, Co-op Bank rallied from 27-29 down at half time to overcome KU Pirates 68-39. The bankers won first quarter 16-15 and Pirates’ the second 14-11.
A dominant display upon resumption saw Co-op Bank overpower their opponents with 23-2 and 18-8 wins in the third and fourth quarters. James Mwangi had 14 points for the bankers while Mike Oketch top scored for Pirates with 11 points.
Biggest mover
Ulinzi was the biggest mover going to the second spot with 21 points from eleven matches. The soldiers beat Equity Bank 62-46 on Saturday. They led 33-16 at half time.  Ancette Wafula scored 24 points while Vincent Onsogo had 11 for Equity.
On Sunday, Ulinzi beat Nairobi Aviation College 60-47, a comeback win after trailing 25-29 at the breather. Aviation won the first quarter 18-11 and the second went to Ulinzi 14-11.
The soldiers’ turnaround came in the second half after winning the third and fourth quarters 15-8 and 20-10 to nail down maximum points. Victor Odendo scored 12 points for Ulinzi while Felix Luke notched 11 for Aviation.
Kenya Airports Authority, KAA, dropped to the third spot after losing 58-65 to Aviation. They have 20 points.
Ben Oluoch scored a game high of 26 points for Aviation who led 28-22 at the breather. Shem Otieno was KAAs top scorer with 17 points.
KCB Lions beat Mennonite 65-52 in a match which saw Victor Ochieng, the captain score 20 points.  The Lions led 34-20 at halftime after winning the first two quarters 21-14 and 13-6.
They won the third quarter 18-14 but Mennonite bounced back to win the fourth quarter 18-13. Erick Wawire top scored for Mennonite with 16 points.
Thunder inflicted the 10th loss to Blazers whom they narrowly beat 67-60 on Sunday. Griffin Ligare scored 30 for Thunder who led 38-29 at the breather. Joel Wafula was the highest scorer for Blazers on18 points and Joe Koech added 17.
Sprite Storms and Strathmore University were on the winning end in women's Premier League beating Kenyatta University Oryx and Kenya College of Accountancy- University KCA-U) respectively.
Mercy Wanyama scored 14 points and Sylvia Omollo 11 to steer Storms to a 56-40 win over Kenyatta University Oryx. The top scorer for Oryx was Betty Kamau on 19 points.
Melissa Akinyi scored 20 points to lead Strathmore to a 73-18 win over KCA-U after a low-scoring first half. Strathmore was the superior of the two sides restricting KCA-U to a 16-0 score in the third quarter and 39-9 score in the fourth.
Strathmore University led 18-9 at halftime winning the opening quarters 11-6 and 7-3. Celestine Isambwa scored nine points for KCA-U.
On Saturday, KCA-U lost 30-56 to Eagle Wings with Annerose Atieno scoring 19 points for the winners and Helen Okwiri nine for the losers. Ulinzi Blades beat KU Oryx 58-44 to take their season's tally to 11 points.
Results
Saturday: ANU 67 World Hope 74, Ulinzi Blades 58 KU Oryx 44, Trailblazers 64 JKUAT 51, Eagle Wings 56 KCA-U 30, Little Prince 54 Baraka Xtreme 51, Mennonite 52 Lions 65, Blazers 40 Co-op Bank 84, KU Pirates 42 USIU-A Tigers 73, Nairobi Aviation College 65 KAA 58, Ulinzi Warriors 62 Equity Bank 46.
Sunday: Parklands Baptist 41 ANU 76, Little Prince 53 JKUAT 47, KU Pirates 39 Co-op Bank 68, Sprite Storms 56 KU Oryx 40, Strathmore University 73 KCA-U 18, USIU-A Tigers 80 Nakuru Club 60, Thunder 67 Blazers 60, Ulinzi Warriors 60 Nairobi Aviation College 47.