Resilient KPA sail to KBF League play-offs semis
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) men’s basketball team Tobias Odumbe (left) dribbles away from Ulinzi Warriors Jeff Mwaniki during a past match. PHOTO | FILE |
What you need to know:
- Strathmore escape with narrow win against Co-op in women’s game
- Dockers hit USIU-A in best-of-three series to set up a revenge match against Ulinzi
Kenya Ports Authority will host champions Ulinzi Warriors in the opening two matches of the men’s Kenya Basketball Federation Premier League play-offs semi-final at KPA Makande Gymnasium in Mombasa on Saturday and Sunday.
KPA knocked out rivals USIU-A Tigers 2-0 on the best-of-three series quarter-final at Nyayo National Stadium Gymnasium at the weekend to qualify for the semis.
The dockers beat hosts USIU-A Tigers 63-51 in Game Two at Nyayo on Saturday, after having won Game One 65-60 in Mombasa a week ago.
Regular season league leaders Co-op Bank and runner-up Ulinzi Warriors, coached by Philip Shida (right), earned automatic qualification to the play-offs semi-final.
KPA will be seeking to avenge their 2-1 defeat by Ulinzi in last year’s play-offs semi-final. The dockers sailed into the semi-final stage for the second consecutive year after registering a 63-51 victory over hosts USIU-A Tigers in Game Two of the quarter-finals. Games three to five, in case of 1-1 tie, will be hosted by Tigers in Nairobi.
KPA had earlier won Game One in Mombasa and needed a second straight victory to lock out the students 2-0. Tigers, who were favourites, having defeated KPA twice 75-73 and 47-39 in the regular season, were under pressure to force a 1-1 draw in Game Two.
Victory for Tigers, who have never won the league, could have prompted the extended decisive Game Three on Sunday to determine the winner.
Tigers, who lost 3-0 to Ulinzi Warriors in last year’s best-of-five play-offs final, had made a strong start in Game Two, restricting KPA to a narrow 17-16 first quarter lead. KPA, who had finished fifth with 36 points in regular season to advance, hanged onto a 31-28 lead at the break.
The dockers, who are seeking to recapture the league title they last won in 2013, paraded former Tigers’ star Evans Leting, who poured in a game-high 22 points.
KPA coach Sammy Kiki said: “We need to utilise home court advantage against Ulinzi in the two matches to boost our chances of reaching the final.”
In the women’s quarter final opener, coach Ronnie Owino’s Strathmore University squeezed a narrow 46-43 win over strong Co-op Bank in Game One.
