Basketball in Africa

Strathmore Blades dominated from start to the end as they overran Unites States International University - Africa (USIU-A) 80-57 in a Kenya basketall Federation men's Premer League match at the Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday.
The win saw Blades complete a double over USIU-A this season after beating their opponents in the first leg in May.
Blades used their key player Joseph Ongoro early enough to do the damage. He set off the tempo with two straight three-point shots and a basket for a 8-0. Ongoro finished the quarter with 15 points, 71 percent of his team's total score in the 21-18 win.
Blades who won the second quarter 19-14 to lead 40-32 at halftime came out stronger in third quarter with a 26-8 win but lost the fourth 14-17. Ongoro, who shot 69 percent at the three-point line, top-scored for Blades with 26 points while Kevin Kigotho had 14 points for USIU-A.
Blades scored 33 points from the three-point line and 19 from the free-throw line while USIU-A had six points off the three-point line and eight from free shots.
In the same league, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) collected maximum points from their tour of Nairobi. They beat Terror 75-51 on Saturday and Umoja 79-59 on Sunday.
Against Umoja, Evans Letting top-scored with 17 points while Athiey Lwal hit four three-pointers to finish with 15 points. Michael Munene top scored for Umoja with 16 points while Joseph Dibondo added 15.
Anthony Ojukwu, the KPA head coach had the opportunity to rotate his playing unit for both games to give more players playtime. He told sportsnewsarena.com that earlier losses have not complicated his team’s chances of defending the title.
The first loss was at home to Nairobi City Thunder. “I took full blame for that loss because my substitutes never worked. The starting five were fine but those that I brought in failed to click and we actually surrendered a 21 points lead,” he said.
Ojukwu: Poor officiating cost us
That was followed by back-to-back losses against Nakuru Club and USIU-A. “The loss to Nakuru was largely due to poor officiating so I never lost to a better team. Against USIU-A, I did not even consider that to be a game,” Ojukwu added.
“We did not have a referee and I fielded a weak team. USIU-A insisted on playing because they had travelled all the way from Nairobi so we decided to use that as a training game. To our surprise, it counted and that's how we lost. We can beat USIU-A any day.”
With three losses, Ojukwu has no fears of surrendering the title notwithstanding the fact that some of his players are based in Nairobi. “I am not worried because I know we will be ready for playoffs. I believe we have the best team.”
In another match, Co-operative Bank beat Strathmore University 76-62 in a game they had to wait until fourth quarter to be sure of a victory.
Strathmore did not surrender the game without a fight. The students started as the better side with a 4-0 lead inside first minute and had stretched to 9-3 with five minutes played to win the quarter 17-13.
With 6:40 of second quarter played, Strathmore’s lead was cut to a point at 19-18 but they surged ahead to lead 26-18. When the clock had 2:30 of play left, Co-op Bank took over leadership for the first time at 27-26 but Strathmore bounced back to re-take the lead 28-27 at 2:09.
Co-op Bank led again 29-28 at 1:56 but Martin Mugambi nailed a three -pointer for Strathmore to lead 31-29 at 1:26. Co-op Bank was in the lead again 33-32 at 0:30 to play and went to the breather leading 34-32.
Lead changed hands six times
Third quarter witnessed a similar display as both teams exchanged leadership at intervals of two points all through. In this quarter, the lead changed hands six times and was tied two times at 36-36 and 44-44.
The bankers went to fourth quarter with four points lead and had extended to ten after four minutes played at 62-52 to win the quarter 24-14.
Job Byron scored highest for Co-op Bank with 14 points and Joseph Khaemba added 12. Cliff Alela was the highest scorer for Strathmore with 15 points, Robert Otieno added 13 while Samuel Mogoko and Keith Adams scored 10 points each.
Equity Bank beat Mennonite 71-32.
Women's Premier League defending champions USIU-A narrowly beat Western Delight 54-47 in Kakamega. Head coach George Mayienga said the scoreline was okay considering the circumstances under which they played.
“That is not a worry. We had only six players because others had exams and we enjoyed a good lead only to allow them a comeback. When your opponent scores four three-pointers, they will definitely catch up and that is what happened.”
The game between Co-op Bank and Ulinzi Blades at Upper Hill was rained off with 1:14 remaining in third quarter and Ulinzi leading 36-31.
Masaku Sparks won 67-21 over Kenyatta University Oryx with quarterly scores of 29-6, 14-2, 9-6 and 15-7 respectively. Pamela Sinda top scored with 15 points while Hilda Ndegwa and Felmas Adhiambo added 11 each.
Berine Awour scored three three-point shots and a free shot to top score for Oryx with 10 points.
Results
Saturday: Western Delight 47 USIU-A 54, JKUAT 42 Little Prince 39, Blazers 57 Nebulas Kakamega 45, 4-Christ 77 Kisumu Lakeside 58, World Hope 80 MKU Thika 78, Masaku Sparks 67 KU Oryx 21, Terror 51 KPA 75, Don Bosco 57 Baraka Xtreme 79, Equity Bank 71 Mennonite 32; Sunday: Little Prince 55 Lakeside 66, Umoja 59 KPA 79, Barclays Bank 58 ANU 44, Strathmore University 62 Co-op Bank 76, USIU-A 57 Blades 80.