Basketball in Africa

Relegation-threatened Umoja beat playoffs-bound Strathmore Blades 62-54 to increase their  chances of featuring in the Kenya Basketball Federation league for the second successive season.
It has been a tough debut season for Umoja who are fighting to avoid relegation. The win against Blades came at an opportune especially after they trailed 33-36 at halftime.
Blades won first quarter 20-16 and Umoja the second 17-16. Umoja dominated in second half winning third and fourth quarters 13-7 and 16-11 respectively. Gilbert Obiero top scored for Umoja with 13 points while Michael Munene and Kevin Sunguti scored 12 points each.
Jonathan Kishibagaya top scored for Blades with 14 points. Umoja scored 21 points from the three-point line and nine from the free-throw line while Blades scored nine points from the arc and nine from free shots.
It was a bad outing for Blades who lost their second game 62-66 to Co-operative Bank. The students surrendered a 34-31 halftime lead with George Okoth scoring highest at 16 points and Joseph Ongoro adding 15. Job Byron was the top scorer for the bankers with 16 points.
Co-op Bank completed a weekend sweep by beating United States International University- Africa (USIU-A) 65-59 on Sunday as they welcomed back Tony Abondo and Brian Busu from injury.
Co-op Bank led 33-27 at halftime after winning the first quarter 23-9 and USIU-A the second 18-10. The students won third 16-15 and Co-op Bank the fourth 17-16. Byron top scored for Co-op Bank with 22 points while Alvin Nyangweso scored 15 points for USIU-A, Joel Ntambwe added 12 and Lionel Manyara had 11.
Co-op Bank made six three-pointers and three free shots while USIU-A had two three-pointers and 13 free shots.
Lions win at 'death'
Dennis Opiyo scored a game high 28 points to help Lions beat Zetech University 79-76 at the death. Zetech enjoyed the lead for long period and even stretched to 10 points in the second quarter.
The game had tied 74-74 with only 24 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Raymond Wanjohi made a basket to give Zetech a 76-74 lead but Opiyo made a three-point shot with 5 seconds to play for Lions to lead 77-76. Marvin Omondi added two free shots to seal the win for Lions who trailed 34-36 at halftime.
Zetech won first quarter 20-18 but the second tied at 16-16. Lions took control of the game in third quarter with a comfortable 26-14 win to open up a 10 points lead at 60-50.
Complacency in the fourth quarter saw the students claw back to tie the game and eventually win the quarter 26-19 but not enough to overturn the result. Collins Odhiambo added 21 points for Lions and Victor Ochieng had 20 after hitting four three-pointers.
Jeremy Opiyo top scored for Zetech with 21 points. Lions scored 15 points from the arc and 12 from free shots while Zetech made three three-pointers and nine free shots.
Zetech beat Kenyatta University Pirates 64-48 on Saturday while Lions won 58-52 against Mennonite.
Pirates lost second game 55-59 to Strathmore University. Ulinzi Warriors beat Equity Bank 70-41 as Eric Mutoro top scored with 12 points, William Ochieng added 10 and Byron Mabonga had nine. Luke Felix scored 12 points for Equity.
Ulinzi won 29-5 and 18-12 to lead 47-17 at halftime. Equity won the third quarter 17-8 and Ulinzi the fourth 15-7.
Strathmore and Equity Bank win
In the womwn's Premier League, Strathmore University and Equity Bank were victorious.
Strathmore beat Ulinzi Blades 47-35 after trailing 14-15 at halftime in a low scoring half. Ulinzi won the first quarter 11-6 and Strathmore the second 8-4. The students turned out strongly in second half to win 18-12 and 15-8.
Susan Manya top scored for Strathmore with 22 points, scoring 13/18 for the team in third quarter. Esther Butali scored 12 points for Ulinzi and Rose Aketch added eight.
Hilda Indasi scored 14 points and Linda Mfuchi 13 as Equity Bank beat KU Oryx 62-27 with quarterly scores of 16-5, 9-9, 16-2 and 21-11. Brenda Mwani top scored for Oryx with 8 points and Hilda Kunyanga added 6.
Weekend Results: KU Oryx 27 Equity Bank 62, Blades 62 Co-op Bank 66, Strathmore Swords 47 Ulinzi Blades 35, EMYBA 45 Baraka Xtreme 63, KCA-U 39 MKU Thika 28, Lions 58 Mennonite 52, JKUAT 65 ANU 86, Upper Hill 20 Nebulas Kakamega 0, Ulinzi Warriors 70 Equity Bank 41, KU Pirates 48 Zetech University 64, Blazers 67 World Hope 76, Strathmore University 59 KU Pirates 55, Blades 54 Umoja 62, Zetech University 76 Lions 79, USIU Tigers 59 Co-op Bank 65.