Too close to call as “Blades”cut KPA’s charge

Strathmore University’s “Blades” spoiled what had looked like an early party for the defending champions Kenya Ports Authority in the men basketball league finals at the KPA Makande Gymnasium in Mombasa after fighting hard to secure a 65-64 win in game three of the final.

It was a big blow to KPA who had won game one and two which had been played in Nairobi last weekend where they triumphed 51-50 and 68-37 respectively before shockingly losing  65-64 on Saturday when the stakes were even higher.

At Makande, all seemed well for KPA as they had won the first three-quarters at 18-16, 13-12, 26-19 respectively before getting the shock of their life as they were humiliated 18-07 by the Blades in the last quarter.

Speaking to Citizen Digital, “Blades” head coach Tony Ochieng said it was a great come back for them especially after losing the first two games of the finals noting that the pressure was on KPA.

“We used our plan which was to keep on pressuring them and it worked well for us and we are going to do the same in the next game to ensure we win it,”Ochieng  said.

Blades captain George Okoth also didn’t hide his joy after the victory.

He said: “We had nothing to lose but everything to win, that was our driving philosophy,” he said, adding that: “In tomorrow’s game we are going to work hard to score more points so as to win.”

However, KPA head coach Sammy Kiki was an unhappy man after the loss.

“I’m not happy with the way we played today. Being the third game we didn’t approach it with the right attitude. We made a lot of mistakes giving Blades the opportunity to win by a one-point margin. I still believe that if we play our game well then we shall win tomorrow’s game,”

The two will meet tomorrow at the same venue in their fourth game in what is expected to be a cracker.