Steely Kangaru the team to beat after retaining basketball crown

Kangaru Boys High School retained their basketball title by whitewashing Blessed St Joseph Allamano Wachoro Boys 65-17 in a one-sided final played at Kangaru Grounds in the Embu County Secondary Schools games.

In the first quarter, Kangaru was leading 17-7, adding 13-8 in the second quarter to lead 30-15 by halftime.

Kangaru head coach Morris Kaara made changes in the second half so as to rotate his players which, seemingly, was their game plan.

“We quickly learned our opponents’ game plan and identified their weaknesses which made us attack them regularly to collect the points,”Kaara asserted.

With new faces in the team, Kangaru exhibited the thirst for glory, producing a magnificent performance in the third quarter, scoring 25-2 against their opponents.

“The new boys knew they have to fight for their place in the regionals so they put their bodies on the line, sweating blood to give an outstanding performance to catch the coach’s eye so I’ll have to choose the strongest squad for the regionals,” Kaara added.

Despite the dominance in the early quarters, rampant Kangara were far from done, hitting the opponent 10-0 in the last quarter to make it 64-17 at full time.

Wachoro head coach Japheth Kirimi hailed his team’s performance but was quick to add that they’ll go back to the basics so as to perform well in the regionals.

“Being the first time to reach the finals of the county games, we consider it an honour. We gave our level best but we were unlucky to lose against the mighty champions,” he said, adding that, “they have played in East Africa and national games so for us it was a match of our lifetime, we now look forward to the regionals where we hope to  qualify for the nationals.”

Kirimi pointed out the challenges that they faced, saying that the tight curriculum doesn’t allow them to practice as much as they may have liked.

Kangaru’s Emmanuel Wambua ‘Goodman’ scored 30 points with three assists and four steals, to emerge as the Most Valuable Player.

“The game was easy because our opponents tensed giving us room to outshine them and gave us adequate space to attack them more,”Wambu said mockingly after the victory, adding that the target is to qualify for the East Africa games.

Skipper Teddy Nyagwoti scored 21 points, while Thomas Kingori and Anthea Kamau tied on 20 points.

Earlier,  Kyeni Girls from Embu East district were crowned as the new County basketball winners in the girls’ category after they defeated Gitaraka girls 29-16.

All the teams that reached the finals will represent the county in the Eastern Region games next week at the same institution.