Thunder strike KPA, jump toleague summit

Thunder men basketball team jumped to the summit of the Kenya Basketball Federation men’s Premier League after thrashing defending champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) 82-68 at the weekend.

Thunder captain Griffin Ligare carried the day scoring 26 points to help last year’s semi-finalists complete double wins against the Dockers, after beating them in the first leg in Mombasa too.

Thunder head coach Sadat Gaya is focusing on building momentum as they head to playoffs.

“My number one focus is health, getting all my injured players ready for the playoffs and execution since if we execute our defensive and offensive sets to perfection we can compete with anyone,” Gaya said.

Those injured are rotational players Charles Kituyi, Jack Agunda, Shem Otieno and Kevin Chogo.

The win took Thunders atop the log on 40 points with one game to go. They face second placed Ulinzi who have 39 points on Friday – a decisive match to know who will finish at the top of the league after all the 22 matches.

On their part, Ulinzi has two games to go, against Thunder and Umoja.

KPA captain Samuel Ocholla who doubles up as assistant head coach said they have taken the result as a wake-up call and will plan accordingly for the next games.

“We had poor defence and we were too lethargic and couldn’t move, but we will adjust and finish position three hence we have to win the remaining games,” Ocholla said.

KPA have three games to go and will be meeting USIU on Saturday and Strathmore on Sunday before wrapping it up with Lakeside.

In another match, Lakeside utilized their home ground advantage hammering Umoja 63-54.

According to Lakeside head coach John Ogilo, it wasn’t a walk in the park.

“We capitalized on their mistakes; for instance not converting open shots since they were too slow on transition,”Ogilo said.

Umoja head coach Steve Kuta blamed the officiating for the loss.

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KPA Kenya Basketball Federation League Thunder

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