Ulinzi, Thunder enter play-offs semis
What you need to know:
- Top seed Ulinzi Warriors defeated Lakeside 94-63 in Game Two of the best-of-three series to book a ticket to the semi-final
- Second seeds Thunder, eliminated newcomers Eldonets 2-1 to qualify for their second semi-final in a row
- Red-hot Kenya international shooting guard Griffin Ligare scored a game-high 28 points and forward Kevin Chogo added 20
Top guns Ulinzi Warriors and Thunder qualified for the basketball Premier League play-offs semi-finals at Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium at the weekend.
Ulinzi Warriors, who topped the 12-team table standings with 43 points, proved they are a force to reckon with this season when they knocked out lowly rated Kisumu Lakeside 2-0 in the play-off quarter finals on Saturday.
Top seeds Ulinzi Warriors, who are on course to lift their eighth championship, defeated Lakeside 94-63 in Game Two of the best-of-three series to book a ticket to the semi-final.
Ulinzi had earlier laboured to beat Lakeside 80-78 in Game One in Kisumu.
Second seeds Thunder, eliminated newcomers Eldonets 2-1 to qualify for their second semi-final in a row.
After going down 53-63 in the opening Game One in Eldoret, Thunder bounced back to win Game Two 82-50 on Saturday to lock the series 1-1.
Thunder went ahead to seal Eldonets fate by defeating their opponents 52-33 in the decisive Game Three on Sunday to qualify for the best-of-five series semi-finals.
Red-hot Kenya international shooting guard Griffin Ligare scored a game-high 28 points and forward Kevin Chogo added 20.
They were responsible for Thunder’s tremendous performance to reach the semi-finals.
The duo made coach Maurice Ouma’s Eldonets look ordinary as they trailed 21-35 at the breather in Game Three.
Eldonets, who were taking part in the play-offs for the first time, had sailed through after finishing seventh in regular season with 31 points.
Thunder’s coach Sadat Gaya said: “We started working on the scoring after losing Game One and also tightened the defence which finally paid dividends as we won two consecutive matches to qualify for the semi-finals. The focus now is to reach the final.”
Eldonets head coach Maurice Ouma said: “We lost due to inexperience with my players making unnecessary mistakes. I have a young team to be retained to perform better in the next season.’’
Ulinzi Warriors will meet the winner between Kenya Ports Authority and Strathmore University Blades in the semi-finals.
