Ulinzi level playoff series against Thunder

Ulinzi Warriors needed a double overtime to crush Thunder 123-106 as they hit back to level their playoff final series at 1-1 on Thursday at the Nyayo Gymnasium in Nairobi.

Thunder had won Game One 75-73 but Ulinzi turned tables in Game Two at the same venue with Victor Bosire and Eric Mutoro hitting 37 and 24 points respectively to guide the Soldiers to victory.

Ulinzi thought they had won the game in normal time but Thunder’s Kevin Chogo individual brilliance in last seconds saw him got an offensive rebound and hit the buzzer to tie the game 86 ups.

Warriors started off well with a 19-14 win before Thunder turning things with a 26-20 win which made them to go to half time leading narrowly 40-39.

In the second half Thunder started from where they started when they won 25-22 but Ulinzi could not allow them to win Game two when they won fourth quarter 25-21 making the game to tie 86 ups.

In the first overtime, the game ended 16-16 but Ulinzi managed to use their experience to win the second overtime with a huge margin winning 21-4 to emerge victors.

Ulinzi captain John Washika attributed the win to their defense.

“The game was so close but pressure defense won the game for us,” Washika said.

On his side Thunder head coach Sadat Gaya blamed the loss on the overtime.

“The second overtime we came out flat. The overtime had something to do with our loss but it was a tough match which could have gone either way and Ulinzi did a good job in the second overtime and we did bad,” Gaya said.

The two teams meet on Friday at 7PM at the same venue for Game Three as they seek to win the trophy that has been dominated for a while by Kenya Ports Authority.