Equity, KPA grind out crucial victories
What you need to know:
- Zetech, who were beaten 55-44 by Eagle Wings last weekend, showed no effort of fighting back as KPA built a huge 43-15 lead at the breather.
Power forward Feisal Aiden scored game-high 44 points to lead Equity Bank in a celebrated 79-71 victory over Strathmore University Blades in a tough men’s basketball Premier League first leg tie at Nyayo National Stadium Gymnasium on Saturday.
Coach Carey Odhiambo’s Equity Bank needed early eight points from man-of-the match Aiden while teammate Lenson Kisia also hit eight as the bankers sent a warning to the varsity students with a 19-16 run at end of the first quarter.
Blades, who have so far won four matches and lost five, had Kennedy Dwallo and Cliff Alela fighting hard to take a deserved 20-19 lead at the end of second quarter. Aiden, who sunk a record eight three-pointers was behind Equity Bank’s hard fought 38-36 lead at the breather.
Equity, who celebrated their seventh victory with only two loses in the first leg, put the game beyond their opponents reach as they raced a huge 24-18 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Blades, who finished fourth last year after losing 58-61 to Thunder in the play-off tie, threw everything in the game during the critical fourth quarter in which they locked the scores 17-17.
Veteran Lenson Kisia added 10 points for Equity while Ronnie Aduke sunk 13, Cliff Alella hit 10 and teammate Kennedy Dwallo replied with 11 for Blades.
Coach Carey Odhiambo said: “We did not train well although we garnered two points and we need to shape up by the next game.”
His Blades counterpart Tonny Ochieng said: “We played good defence and also rebounded well but we blundered by allowing Feisal Aiden to have a field day that single-handedly destroyed us but above all our opponents played well and deserved to win.”
In the women’s Premier League, coach Mike Opel’s Kenya Ports Authority continued to register impressive results in their away matches when they defeated hosts Zetech University 66-23.
The dock women, who had returned home with maximum four points from last weekend’s tour of Nairobi, remained on fire making their hosts look ordinary as they led comfortably 22-4 at the end of first quarter.
Zetech, who were beaten 55-44 by Eagle Wings last weekend, showed no effort of fighting back as KPA built a huge 43-15 lead at the breather.
