Gallant Warriors halt KPAs unbeaten run

Kenya Basketball League men defending champions Kenya Ports Authority watched in agony and disappointment on home ground as their league’s unbeaten run came tumbling down at the weekend after losing 66-72 to a hard fighting Ulinzi Warriors at the Makande Gymnasium in Mombasa.

Prior to the weekend loss, the Dockers had gone 17 games without losing a match.

The weekend was however a bitter-sweet affair as they won on Saturday beating USIU 68-58 before losing their unbeaten record to Warriors on Sunday who gave absolutely everything in the match.

Ulinzi won in three of the four quarters prevailing 22-11, falling 10-22, before bouncing to 20-19 and 20-14 wins in the third and fourth quarter respectively.

Erick Mutora was the star of the show scoring 25 points for the soldiers while John Washika scored 14 points.

But even as the unbeaten record tumbled, Victor Ochieng shone emerging as KPA’s top scorer with 12 points but his efforts could not help them win the hotly contested match.

KPA head coach Sammy Kiki blamed the loss to tight fixtures over the weekend.

“Two tough games against USIU and Ulinzi over the weekend contributed to the loss.

“Against USIU for instance, we trailed at one point but my players fought very hard to win the game. We also played well against Ulinzi but it was not our day, our shots were not dropping in,” he said.

Kiki also cited fatigue amongst his players as a contributing factor but was quick to hail his team for a gallant fight.

KPA will now aim at getting maximum points from their two left matches against Trailblazers in Mombasa and Lakeside in Kisumu.

For his part, Ulinzi Warriors head coach William Balozi attributed the win to hard work amongst his players.

“I’m very happy for my boys. We had done enough training in Nairobi and we knew we were going to face unbeaten team who defeated us in the first leg and we managed to win.

“Our focus now is on the play-offs,” an excited Balozi said.

KPA still lead the log on 35 points with two games to go while Ulinzi are second on 33 points.

Summarised Results

Strathmore 56-14 Western Delight (WP)

KPA 56-28 USIU (WP)

KPA 68-58 USIU (MP)

Equity Bank 66-24 Western Delight (WP)

KPA 59-41 K.U ORYX (WP)

KPA 66-72 Ulinzi (MP)