NAIROBI (Kenya) - The two posted contrasting wins on their penultimate day of the six-day tournament that comes to a close at Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium, Sunday.
KPA survive raging ABC storm to remain hopeful
The Dockers Lennox Wanje was the star as his late heroics gave the Kenyans a hard fought 85-82 victory in a tie that would have gone either way.
The battle of the two coastal city teams saw KPA take a 26-20 cushion in the first quarter as the Dockers playmaker showed the way early.
Wanje was perfect going 2 for 2 from field-goal and 3 for 3 from behind the stripe to set an early tempo. He finished the quarter with 12 points.
ABC, yet to win any game, pushed KPA to the wire posing all sorts of problems but when the halftime buzzer sounded, they still found themselves down 47-39.
The third was no different, KPA threatened to away building a 14 point margin, but ABC stormed right back to only trail 67-59 as it ended.
Wanje's strong drive to the basket made it 69-59 as the deciding stanza got off. But with 2:54 left, Dar made the scores 78-75.
He nailed a three-pointer for an 83-82 edge with 0:13 left, swished two foul shots and had a key block to ensure the home team won this hard fought battle.
"Today's game was a little bit tough but I am happy we won. They damaged us with shots but our coach called a time out that helped. We would have lost the game." Said Wanje.
He led KPA with team high 19 points, Bryan Eleman had 16, while Gerry Mukhwana and David Yamo each to registered 11.
ABC, who put up their best game of the tournament, had , Jonas Oberlin scoring a tourney high of 34, Omany Ndula shot 15 as Anthony Cosmas and Victor Joseph shot 11 a piece.
"The boys game it their all. There's improvement from our oast games. We thought we had a chance but referee failed to call a last second foul.' said abc coach Britao Safari.
Remesha too hot to handle for home boys, Dumas
Burundi's Remesha went on a shooting spree dismantling Equity Bank Dumas 106-64 in a one-sided demolition.
The Burundian's who remain unbeaten going into the final day Sunday, sunk nine threes and exploded for a strong 33-13 edge in the first quarter.
They kept their feet on the gas in the second with Napoleon Abikunze scoring 12 and Cedric Tsangue adding 11 as they led 58-29 at the break.
In the third, Remesha had built their biggest lead of 45 points at
89-44 despite the bankers effort to stem the tide. The fourth was no better for Dumas down. 26-22.
With 2:54 minutes left in the deciding stanza, Emmanuel Amos nailed two foul shots that gave Remesha, who buried 13 treys, a century mark at 100-61.
"We were more sharper scoring alot of threes. We also matched up well based on what we have abd our preparations." Offered Remesha coach Robert Mugabe.
"There is an important game tomorrow and we have one more training session to tighten the defensive ends."
Five players hit double figures with Napoleon Abikunze hitting 22 points, Tsangue 19, Steve Nsumizi 14, Delaware Edgard 12 and Guibert Nijimbere 11.
The winless bankers had 16 from their experienced player Davies Siaji and 11 from George Omondi.
"Today was our best scoring game. We matched up in almost everything. If we had more games well be in a better place." Said Siaji.
FIBA