Mennonites got off to a good start in this year’s national basketball men’s Division One League with a huge 84-49 victory over visiting Nakuru Club at the Nairobi’s Nyayo National Stadium on Saturday.
In another lower division tie, Parklands Baptist registered a 87-65 win over World Hope while the top match women’s match between Eastern Queens and Kenya College of Accountancy - University failed to take place.
Kenya Basketball Federation vice-chairman Henry Shihemi said that the students were sitting their examinations and had requested for their season opener to be re-scheduled.
KCA-U coach, Charles Goro, said his team would be ready to honour their first leg fixtures in three weeks time.
Champions Kenya Commercial Bank beat newcomers Blazers 71-41 after leading 16-10 in the first quarter.
Early kill
Mennonites went for an early kill against Nakuru Club with Abdulaziz Ali and veteran Steve McOdongo calling the shots. The duo hit three-pointers which sent their opponents into panic as Mennonites raced a 24-10 first quarter lead.
Collins Ochieng ran riot pouring in nine points as Mennonites proved that they had prepared well for the new season to lead 34-13 run in the second quarter. Mennonites led 58-23 at half-time.
On resumption, Nakuru Club, who had finished in sixth position after failing to honour their play-off tie against World Hope last year, showed some hope of recovery when Dennis Makori and Joseph Ngoshi scored to put their side lead 20-12 in the third quarter.
Mennonites, who had built a huge margin in the early two quarters, needed only a 14-6 run in the last quarter to celebrate their new season opener win.
George Kidha scored 21 points, Ochieng had 28 and Mcdongo 19 for Mennonites. Makori replied with 14 points and Ngoshi had 13 for the losers.
In another match, Collins Ngira hit 27 points, Ndambi Kariuki had 15 while Daniel Imbali added 11 to help Parklands Baptist demolish World Hope 87-65.
Parklands looked too good for their opponents leading 23-18 in the first quarter. The winners were up 44-33 at half-time and went up 25-14 in the last quarter to grab the opening two vital league points.