KEN - Impressive ICC maintains top placing as Lions roar past Co-op Bank
NAIROBI (Premier League) - Reigning national champions KCB Lions nipped Co-operative Bank of Kenya 60-59 in a top premier league tie at Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium on Saturday.. KCB roared to an emphatic 22-12 advantage in the opening quarter but Co-op, who lost to their bitter rivals 2-1 in last year's national play off finals, clutched back to ...
NAIROBI (Premier League) - Reigning national champions KCB Lions nipped Co-operative Bank of Kenya 60-59 in a top premier league tie at Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium on Saturday..
KCB roared to an emphatic 22-12 advantage in the opening quarter but Co-op, who lost to their bitter rivals 2-1 in last year's national play off finals, clutched back to take a deserved 21-10 advantage at the end of the second quarter of a closely fought first half. Co-op were up 33-32 at the breather.
After the intermission, the battle was not settled as yet with both two giants doing a lot to entertain the strong crowd. The game was tied 42-42, 44-44 and 46-46 with KCB moving ahead 14-12 in a lowly scoring third quarter. They did take the last one as well 14-13.
In the last two minutes the game picked up steam with Cop-op leading 52-46 but KCB clawed back to tie the scores 52-52 with 1:10 minutes left to play. Luka Lukongo had it 58-56 before Tobias Onyango nailed another basket for a 60-56 edge.
But if Lions thought they had won on that huge effort by Onyango, last year's play offs MVP, Allan Ouma had other ideas as he drained a last gasp three pointer that brought them close 59-60 but his heroics could not save the day for Co-op.
Onyango led with 18 points, Victor Odenod nailed 16 while new catch Lukongo sored 16. For Co-op Bank, Martin Okwako shot 17 while new signing Eugene Genga made good his debut when he registered 14 points for his new club.
Suprise package Christian Center (ICC) continued to surprise when they hit Lomboritz 68-57 in a premier league tie played on Sunday.
The winners, who now have three victories and one loss have amassed seven points in their best start in years. They went ahead 14-11 in the first quarter, hanged up 22-16 in the second trailed 22-14 and recovered 20-16 in the last quarter of this showdown.
Griffin Ligare popped up with 16 points while Emmanuel Ekai hit nine for ICC who have shown good form early For Lomboritz who have now lost three games in a row since gaining promotion to thh top league last year, Melvin Oketch scored 16 and Charles Kituyi added 12.
In a scrappy game, Posta continued to struggle for grip as they unimpressively shut down University of Nairobi "Terrorists" 45-26 in a drab encounter. The mailmen got off to a bright 16-6 start in the first quarter before going on to their worst offensive in many games.
Both teams found the scoring angle too tight as they missed shots after shots to the disbelief of the crowd. Posta were up 9-7 in a dreary second, regained the composure with a 16-7 edge in the third before following with a terrible last where they scored 4-6 against the losers.
Ben Oluoch led Posta with 13 points while JP Nyadaro and William Otieno combined for 18 points. UoN, who have now goner down in their two succesive matches, had 13 from Mike Opinya.Posta have won two straight and are on four points.
Eagle Wings hit Strathmore University "Swords" 70-47 behind 23 points from Caroline Achieng and 19 from Eunice Ouma. The victors led 21-10, 19-12 and 15-9 in the first three quarters before Strathmore had the last laugh in the last with a 16-15 edge. Faith Owich scored 14 points and Gladys Wanjiku posted 12.
In Mombasa, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) teams had the last laugh when they won their matches at the Makupa Welfare Hall with convincing scores against the visiting United States International University (USIU) sides.
Up beat KPA men dismissed USIU Tigers 83-70 to earn five points from three games while the women side who are also the reigning champions had 26 points from Everlyne Akoth as they extinguished the Flames 85-15 in a one sided show to remain unbeaten.
In the lower division matches, Parklands Baptists won 52-46 over Nairobi Pentecostal Church (NPC) with Radcliffe Nyamai recording 15 points for the winners. NPC, who trailed 22-28 at half time had 15 from the inspirational forward Radhi Ndalu.
Blazers hit Mennonites 60-44 as John Gicheru and Mutwiri Kiogoa nailed 17 and 13 points respectively. Collins Ochieng bagged 14 for Mennonites who have started the season on a low.
Blazers made it two wins in as many days when they steamroll over World Hope 73-75 behind 11 points from Collins Odhambo and 13 from John Gicheru. Eric Khayere shot 18 for the losers who have won one and lost one.
In Nakuru, the visiting Kenya College of Acciountancy (KCA) University continued their winning ways when they hit the home boys Nakuru Clkub posting a convincing 54-45 win in this fixtures played at the Menengai High School courts.
Dann OWERRE
FIBA Africa