Upper Hill floor Kisumu to kickstart basketball title defense

Newcomers Dr Ribeiro stormed to the hockey semis of the ongoing Kenya Secondary School Sports Association (KSSSA) Term 1A Games with an emphatic 4-0 win over Shimo la Tewa on Wednesday at the State House Girls.

The side that came into the nationals as underdogs defeated giants Kisumu Day 1-0 in their opening group A match before whopping Shimo la Tewa to seal their last four berth.

The Eric Nyamweya coached side who saw off Upper Hill 3-2 in the regional games are now dreaming of a fairytale run at the secondary schools’ elite competition.

“Of course we are a new side in this tournament but the thing that people do not know about us is that we have very good players in the team.

“People should not underestimate us because we can go on and win. We’re taking each game at a time so I don’t want to raise my expectations right now,” Nyamweya told Citizen Digital.

The huge scoreline was a fair reflection of their dominance on Wednesday and perhaps their opponents should have shipped more goals from the one-sided affair.

Moses Muigai opened the scoring in the 27th minute before Victor Opondo doubled the lead a few minutes after the break.

Derrick Namayi put the icing on the cake with a quick fire double to take the game beyond their opponents.

Nicholas Makhasia’s double helped St Antonys to a 2-2 draw against Upper Hill as Kisumu Day inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Musingu.

Meru School bundled out of the competition after losing 2-1 to Mangu in their second pool match.

One-time national and five times East African champions Kerugoya girls lost to Sinyolo 3-0 for a second successive defeat after falling 2-1 to Bura on Day 1.

Meanwhile, a 63-39 victory was enough to for Upper Hill to the boys’ basketball to book a semis date with Laiser Hill who beat Baptist of Nyeri 70-37.

Kangaru School of Eastern exited the tournament after losing 29-66 to Kisumu Day in their second game.

In girls’ basketball, defending champions Kaya Tiwi and St Brigids made it to the knock out stage with wins over Loreto and Buru Buru Girls.

The tournament is sponsored by dairy processing giants Brookside.

-Report by Mwangi Githinji.