Kenya Ports Authority men’s basketball team powered their way into the finals of the National Classic Basketball league after 15 years of waiting when they crushed Co-operative Bank of Kenya 73-62 in the semi-final play-offs in Mombasa.
The dock workers won the play-offs 2-1 on aggregate. The bankers won the first leg match 79-54 in Nairobi. KPA won Game Two 77-57 at the KPA Hall on Saturday, forcing game three.
KPA women also defeated an improved United States International University (USIU) 2-0 to qualify for the finals.
After winning Game One 68-33, KPA completed the 2-0 series with a 84-52 victory over the students who played without star forward Barbra Githinji for a better part of the game following a finger injury.
In the men’s game, KPA had Patrick Kirui, Mike Opel, Dan Okwiri, Fred Odongo and John Apollo to thank for their sterling moves.
The dockworkers raced to a 21-10 lead in the first quarter but Co-operative Bank tied the scores 13-13 in the second quarter.
The bankers had qualified for the last five finals.
Explosive encounter
KPA took the third quarter 20-16 but Co-operative Bank rallied to win the fourth quarter 23-19 but it was too little too late.
Okwiri scored a game high 18 points, Mike Opel had 15 points, while Patrick Kirui and Musa Odari managed 12 points each.
In the women’s encounter, which was equally explosive, KPA won the first quarter 21-12 and stretched the lead further with a 28-08 win in the second quarter.
USIU improved their game in the second half matching all KPA ‘s moves and tied the third quarter 16-16 and the fourth 19-19.
Linda Sirma scored a game high 13 points and Samba Mjomba had nine for Usiu while KPA had Yvonne Akinyi and Velma Naliaka scored nine points each.