USIU, Equity Bank clash as KBF play-offs semis tip off

United States International University (USIU) face Equity Bank in the semi-finals of the women’s National Classic Basketball league.

Joseph Amoko, the Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) fixtures secretary said the women’s play-offs were postponed to give USIU time to participate in the Fiba Africa club championships in Angola last November.

He revealed the semi-finals, to be played on best-of-five-series, will see the first three games played on January 15, 16 and 17 at the Nyayo National Gym while game four and five will be played on January 23 and 24.

According to Amoko, winners in the semis will travel to Mombasa for game one and two of the finals against Kenya Ports Authority on January 30 and 31.

The rest of the final matches, to be played on best of five series, will be played in Nairobi  in the first week of February  when the 2016 basketball season is expected to conclude at the Nyayo National Stadium.

“It is unfortunate that we have to play last year’s play-offs into this year because of the international assignments some of our teams had last year, but this will now be a thing of the past considering that we have re-structured the league  and reverted to the old format of a straight league with a reduced number of teams," Amoko said.

Amoko said the All Stars game, which will serve as a pre-season tie for the league, will then be played in February before the league begins in March.

Amoko, who is also the team manager of the Kenya under 18 basketball teams for the IGAD games to be held in Djibouti mid this month, said the teams have stepped up their  training in Mombasa and Nairobi awaiting official residential training dates which will be released by the government.