Champions Kenya Commercial Bank Lions survived another scare at the weekend as they maintained their men’s national basketball league lead at the Nyayo National Stadium.
The bankers were for the second time made to struggle before escaping with a narrow 53-49 win over traditional rivals Tigers of the United States International University.
The two lucky points kept the Lions in the driving seat of the nine-team contest on 12 points. Only recently, Posta had also threatened the bankers’ unbeaten record before squeezing a slim 59-57 win.
The Lions versus Tigers duel did not however end without a confrontation as it had happened in last year’s return leg tie. It forced international referee Joseph Amoko to disqualify Lions’ forward Victor Odendo and Kennedy Lodiang of Tigers in the last quarter for engaging in a fight.
The game was close from the start, with Tobias Onyango and Samuel Atamba of Lions getting resistance from Tigers’ Nevile Odhiambo and Aroun Ramadhan.
Unbeaten run
As the giants tried to out-do each other, the bankers carried a slim 14-13 first quarter lead. Zaddock Adika had his big role noticed while guard Abel Nson also worked hard for the students. But still, the Lions clawed the harmless Tigers 34-25 at half-time.
Sensing the danger of surrendering the five-match unbeaten run, coach Francis Ngunjiri opted to rotate his experienced players. Tigers defied the odds to go down narrowly 12-10 in the third quarter.
The assaulted Tigers caused havoc to lead 13-9 in the final quarter. Onyango shot 13 points and Odendo 12 while Adika replied with 10 points.
International Christian Centre kept their play-offs hopes alive after they demolished haplesUniversity of Nairobi’s Terrorists 101-45. The first century mark to be witnessed in this year’s championship kept ICC in the second position on nine points.
The church-sponsored team, which has been a crowd puller, has played five matches, won four and lost one (64-61) to Posta. Coach Fred Omondi has vowed to fine-tune the cracked defence as observed by the South Africa-trained technical adviser, Faustin Mgendi.
Co-operative Bank were also victims of struggling wins which have characterised the competition. Strathmore University pinned them to the wall before they scraped a narrow 70-69 win.
The two points left Co-op in the third position on eight points from three wins and two losses. Posta and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), who had no commitment, tie in the fourth spot with seven points. Both former league champions have won three matches and lost one each.
Strathmore and Tigers are placed sixth on six points each from four outings. They have won only won a game each and crashed three times to their opponents in first leg.
Mennonites men’s and women’s teams registered impressive results in their matches at the weekend. The men grabbed four points when started off by beating Nairobi Pentecostal Church (NPC) 72-67. In the second tie, Mennonites clobbered African Nazarene University (ANU) 85-64.
Mennonites now are second on the men’s Division One League standings, with nine points from five matches. They have won four matches and lost one.
Blazers, who had no assignment, still head the table with 10 points from four wins and two losses as league debutants Kenya College of Acountancy (KCA) are third on seven points.
Yana and Mennonites women collected two points each from their tricky fixtures.
Yana are fourth on six points while Mennonites are rated fifth with five points despite celebrating their first win. Sprite Storms were on holiday, but their break did not interfere with their top position at nine points.
Storms have played six matches, won three and lost three.
World Hope and KCA women were not left out in the weekend’s achievements. KCA beat Yana 38-25 in a questionable low scoring encounter while George Namake’s World Hope clobbered Parklands Baptist, formerly known as Java Warriors, 58-43.