Basketball in Africa

Ulinzi Warriors will play Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in the men’s premier league playoffs final after eliminating United States International University- Africa (USIU-A) with a 3-2 series win on Monday.
Both teams had tied 2-2 on Sunday and the soldiers won game five 68-56. Leading for 34 minutes and 51 seconds, Ulinzi took a 39-27 lead to the halftime break after winning first quarter 18-16 and the second 21-11.
Third quarter was a close call with the soldiers winning 15-13 but USIU-A carried home the fourth 16-14.
The students suffered a major setback in the fourth quarter when one of their key players Alvin Nyangweso was fouled out on five fouls.
Captain William Ochieng was at his best scoring 24 points for Ulinzi, grabbed 13 rebounds and two steals.
Kevin Kigotho top scored for USIU-A with 16 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, one steal and one assist.
Ulinzi fielded nine players only and will have eight available when they face KPA in game one on Wednesday.
Victor Odendo will miss after being ejected against USIU-A for an unsportsmanship foul.
Also, KPA will have the advantage of having rested for four days but Ulinzi head coach William Balozi is less concerned.
Play like soldiers
“These games are just like training for us. I don't think our opponents will have any advantage and as always we will play like soldiers.”
For the second game running, Ancete Wafula was taken off with a bleeding nose but he will be fit for game one. Ulinzi led USIU-A for 16 times which calculated well to their dominance while the lead changed hands for seven times.
From the paint, the soldiers had 36 points against USIUs 26 while 9 of their points came from turnovers compared to USIUs 10.
In division one, Umoja made it to the final while the second finalist will be known on Tuesday in game five pitting Dankind Academy and Zetech University. Umoja completed a 3-1 series win over Kenya College of Accountancy- University (KCA-U) winning game four 72-61.
KCA-U scored 22 points from the free-throw line and made one 3-point shot while Umoja had 10 free-throws and nine 3-point shots made.
Douglas Momanyi had a game high 23 points for Umoja while Lawrence Wandera top scored for KCA-U with 16 points.
Dankind won game four 54-52 to force their series against Zetech to game five. It was a very close contest as Dankind led 35-34 at the breather, won third quarter 13-12 and the fourth tied at 6-all. 18 of the points for Dankind came off free-throws and six from the 3-point line while Zetech had 14 free-throws. Jospin Kalule scored highest for Dankind with 15 points while Jeremy Opiyo top scored for Zetech with 12 points and Joshua Kisali added 11.
Results: Dankind Academy 54 Zetech University 52, KCA-U 61 Umoja 72, Ulinzi Warriors 68 USIU-A 56; Tuesday Fixture- Dankind Academy vs Zetech University.