Morans captain Ligare hails unique Okari after Yaound masterclass

Morans captain Griffins Ligare has hailed super star Tylor Okari Ongwae after his Saturday’s buzzer-beater against Angola sent Kenya to the 2021 FIBA Afrobasket finals for the first time in 28 years.

Ligare hailed the ‘unique’ talent of Okari after the forward produced a moment of jaw-dropping brilliance to grant Kenya a terrific 74-73 win against the much-fancied Angola thus booking a ticket to the biennial championship scheduled for August in Rwanda.

“He (Okari) had a ball in his hand, a few seconds left to the game clock and he signaled everyone to space out so that he could play his man on one to take his last shot and he did it and that was very exceptional. I acknowledge we won because of the team work but I must say Okari has a unique talent,” said Ligare.

Ligare termed Saturday’s night as ‘special and beautiful’ adding that he is happy to be the captain of the history-making Morans.

“It was historical and being part of it is truly special and I’m humbled to be part of this group and also to be their leader. We’ve changed the narrative about basketball and this is very inspirational to the young basketballers in Kenya,” he added.

He went ahead to attribute the win to the dedicated coaching staff led by head coach Elizabeth Mills from Australia and her assistant Sadat Gaya, who is also premier league’s side Thunder tactician, for their contribution towards the history making.

“Mills is very particular with numbers and actually numbers don’t lie. She and Gaya have been so instrumental to the success of the team as they prepared us very well and without them we couldn’t have made it.”

Ranked 115th globally, Morans lastly featured at the biennial event in 1993 by virtue of playing hosts to the games and they finished fourth.

In Cameroon, Kenya finished third in Group ‘B’ with eight points behind Senegal and Angola with a win ratio of 2-4 and will be among the top 16 nations in Kigali from August 24 to September 5.