KBF play-offs: Blades cut Thunder down to size as Ulinzi, Equity force Game three

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 29 – University side Strathmore Blades cut down last season’s losing finalists Nairobi City Thunder to size, beating them 2-0 in the best of three quarter final series as the 2021-2022 Kenya National Basketball League quarter final play off ties continued on Saturday at the Nyayo Gymnasium.

Blades won Game Two 61-53 to take the 2-0 lead and book a semi-final date against either holders Ulinzi or Kisumu Lakeside who face off in Game Three on Sunday.

“I am really proud of the team because of the effort they put in. We knew we were facing a very tough opponent and we had to be at our best. They really pushed us and we won by a nine-point margin which is less than last week,”  said Tony Ochieng, the Strathmore head coach.

“Performances like this are encouraging to us. It makes us believe that we can go all the way and now moving forward, we are just taking a match at a time,” said the coach.

Having lost last weekend’s game one by a huge margin, Thunder, powered by Kenya Morans captain Griffin Ligare were eager to bounce back.

The side lost most of their key players at the end of last season and that came to bite them as the vigour of the University Students proved too much for them.

With 4:31 to play, Thunder had only managed one point with Strathmore outscoring them with 11 on the board and this prompted coach Sadat Gaya to call a time out and try rescue the situation.

Thunder had too many turnovers while Blades were efficient whenever they had the ball. They won the first quarter with a 13-5 margin. They had picked their first points on the paint with 2:38 to go, Ligare’s jump shot pulling them in.

In the second quarter, Thunder, powered by the three-point prowess of skipper Ligare pushed the margin to go to the halftime break 28-19, with Strathmore having outscored them 15-14 in that quarter.

After the breather, Thunder continued with their push, but were outscored once again in the third quarter. In the last quarter of the game, they gave in a fight and tried to push to force game three, with Ligare leading the charge.

Strathmore looked to have done just but enough to guard the win and despite Thunder calling a time out with 21 seconds to go and a seven-point gap to fill, they were unsuccessful in the comeback.

Ligare finished off the game as Thunder’s top scorer with 16 points whike Dennis Koja contributed 13 for Strathmore. Koja and Garang Ding were the drivers of the Strathmore locomotive, especially offensively when they won most of the rebounds.

Meanwhile, Valentine Nyakinda and Victor Bosire’s return spurred defending champions Ulinzi Warriors as they beat Kisumu Lakeside 77-57 in Game Two, tying the series at 1-1 after they lost the first game in Kisumu last weekend.

The two sides will now lock horns in the deciding Game Three at the Nyayo Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon.

Nyankinda and Bosire both missed the first leg in Kisumu but their return was more than a relief for the military side, who kept hope of defending their title alive.

Three-point specialist Nyakinda contributed 18 points for Ulinzi, Byron Mabonga had nine while skipper Eric Mutoro chalked eight points.

“We knew we had to give a good account of ourselves to win. The return of Valentine and Bosire has added us some extra push and now we have to look critically at game three. It is one we must win,”  Bosire told Capital Sports.

Warriors led the tie from gun to tape and were in no mood for mistakes. They led 19-10 in a first quarter that they dominated, before being pegged back in the second quarter with Lakeside scoring 13 points against nine for them. But, they still went to the break leading 32-19.

The third and fourth quarters were close, Ulinzi leading by six points at the close of the third and only led the scoring by a point in the last quarter.

At the same time, Equity Bank also forced Game Three in their quarter final duel against University of Nairobi side Terror, beating them 59-35 in Game Two.

“It was disappointing especially offensively because we only managed to score 35 which is very low by our standards. We need to tighten that offensive bit and be a bit tighter defensively. I believe all is not lost and we will give our all in Game Three,” said Eugene Genga, the Terror head coach.

Elsewhere in the women’s play-offs, former champions Eagles wings lost the series 2-0 to University girls Zetech after going down 61-40 in Game Two. Zetech will now face off with the winner between Equity Bank and Africa Nazarene University, Equity leading 1-0 from the first game played last weekend.