By PHILIP ONYANGO from http://www.nation.co.ke
After dispatching Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Lions 87-70 in Mombasa, Kenya Ports Authority men’s basketball team will be hoping to maintain a clean sheet at their Makande backyard when they host Co-operative Bank this weekend.
While the men will be taking on Co-op Bank, the team they beat badly in the first leg in Nairobi and eliminated from the Fiba Africa Zone Five championships in Uganda at the semi-final stage, KPA women will be facing baptism of fire when they entertain unbeaten Eagle Wings at the same venue at 2pm.
Determine leader
The match will help determine who tops the preliminary stages of the championships ahead of the playoffs.
KPA women beat Wings by two points in the Fiba Africa Basketball Championships semis but Wings coach Smarts Olumbo believes it will be a different ball game on Saturday.
The men’s match remains unpredictable, especially since Co-op never take their Mombasa fixtures seriously.
KPA pipped Lions last weekend for a 2-0 sweep, having beaten them in the first leg in Nairobi. The dockers took an early 20-16 lead through Geoffrey Omondi, Dan Okwiri and Patrick Kirui’s efforts.
Kirui was KPA’s top scorer with 25 points while Tobias Onyango scored a game-high 33 points to lead the scores for Lions.
After the game, KCB players accused referee Abbas Ulaya of favouring the dockers and vowed never to allow him officiate their matches again.
Their team manager, George Omondi Nyundi, however said he was happy with the result and promised to turn the tables on the dockers in the playoffs.