Ambitious Kisumu's Lakeside beef up squad ahead of KBF league kick off
What you need to know:
- Lakeside won the 2017 men’s KBF Division One and booked a ticket to the 2018 top flight basketball after spending six years in the lower leagues.
- Once again Onassis has set another lofty target. He wants the Kisumu lads to play in the semi finals play off at the end of the season, adding that they are preparing well to ensure they become title contenders and not just mere participants.
Kisumu’s Lakeside are determined to right the wrongs they made last season in their return to men’s Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) Premier League as the new season kicks off early next month.
Lakeside won the 2017 men’s KBF Division One and booked a ticket to the 2018 top flight basketball after spending six years in the lower leagues.
Head coach George Onassis set an ambitious top four finish in their encore season but a streak of poor results saw them finish a disappointing third from the bottom. The club’s hierarchy attributed the poor finish to financial constraints and inadequate preparation.
Once again Onassis has set another lofty target. He wants the Kisumu lads to play in the semi finals play off at the end of the season, adding that they are preparing well to ensure they become title contenders and not just mere participants.
To achieve this goal, Onassis has announced the signing of three new players. The latest recruits are point guards Silas Owuor and Tom Ragen Cooperative Bank and Nebulas respectively. He also snared Ricky Omondi (small forward) from Kisumu Boys High School. The club, he revealed, intends to acquiore three more players as it targets a rota of 20 players.
The club however has lost Paul Patrick to African Nazerene University after the small forward secured a sports scholarship to the Ongata Rongai-based institution. Their skipper Willis Ochieng is also out as he continues nursing an ankle injury.
In the just ended 5th edition of Maseno University Annual Open Tournament, the club edged Maseno University 62-55 to clinch the men's title. The tactician attributed the results to their continued hard work.
"We have intensified our preseason training, we just won the Maseno University tournament which is because of that commitment,” he told Nation Sport.
