The playoffs are around the corner and basketball games in the Various leagues have gone a notch up higher in terms of intensity and technicality.
It was another great weekend of basketball in the various KBF leagues. The action in the Nyayo National stadium was Jam packed and if you missed it, then you missed a lot.
I was delighted to be part of the action, on and off the court and I will be glad to let you in into the action on the court.
My home team, Kisumu Lakeside, was in action and definitely that means I was in action too. I have been a shooting guard for the team for the past 5years.
On Saturday we had a game against K.A.A which we lost. It came to Sunday and we were still on the loosing end. After starting the game well against University of Nairobi Terrorists, there was an altercation which caused us the game. I cannot blame the team though because we played our hearts off. Being a self sponsored team, Kisumu lakeside has a lot in their plate and all this played a big role in the outcome of the game.
There were games that deserved being termed games of the weekends in each division and I will highlight them. In the Men's division 2, The game of the weekend was a game pitting United States International University,USIU, against Blazers. It was a game of see saw as the students and the men kept changing scores. No team pulled away and it had to go to the wire. With just five seconds to go and the teams tied at 50, USIU got a technical foul and scored one free throw and lost the other. The students were clumsy on the resulting inbound and lost the ball causing a foul against a Blazers player. The player got to the free throw line. With only two seconds to go, he had all the hopes of Blazers in his hand. He missed the first free throw and now he needed to make the second free throw to tie up the game, at least to take the game to overtime. He missed it too and they lost the game. What a nerve wrecking game that was.
In division one basketball Barclays Bank was pitted against Kenyatta University Pirates in a game in which one team was fighting for a playoffs spot while the other was already qualified and was just trying to seal the playoff spot. The pirates came as underdogs as they were really struggling the whole season. The only great thing they had with them was the first leg win against the high flying Barclays team. The game got under way and no team looked to blow away. At no time was a team more than four points behind the other. At the third quarter it looked liked the game will go to overtime. Any team that was going to go at least six points ahead was guaranteed a win. At the end of the third quarter, KU pirates were up by 4points. In the fourth quarter, KU coach, Coach Waringo, brought in Brian a young budding point guard for Renson Moibi and this was the turning point. Brian became a thorn in the flesh of Barclay's bank causing a panic in their technical bench. Barclays went for six minutes without a single basket and this is where KU blew out and won the game. Everything was going wrong for barclays bank players in the fourth quarter. Frank Delano's three pointers were all bouncing off the rim and super guard, Romanov Occonor was having a case of rubber fingers. At the end of the day, KU pirates carried the day, proving that Barclays team have become their customers.
Strathmore blades had two games this weekend, one pitting them against Thunder on Saturday and COOP Bank Spartans on Sunday. The best game was definitely the duel between Blades and Thunder on Saturday. Griffin Ligare did not show up on this day as expected of him, being arguably the best guard in the country. His shots were not going in as usual and so he decided to be splitting the court with his passes. As usual Kevin Chogo ruled the paint and it was a good day for Aleu as he also had an impact in the paint. Shem had a good day behind the arc scoring more than three 3pointers for the Nairobi city Thunder.
Shilton Peter was on the roll for strathmore blades and kept disturbing the Thunder defence. With his resilience he was sinking in baskets. However, Strathmore lost the game technically due to undue reading of the game by the coach. This gave the experienced Nairobi city thunder a chance to get away with the win. Griffin Ligare showed up to the party late in the fourth quarter and destroyed the team with the help of the Canadian import in the team, whom I didn't manage to get the name. The game went late into the night and got fans on their feet all the time.
The ladies too were in action and KU oryx were the largest Casualties of the weekend, falling heavily to the star studded Equity ladies. It was a drubbing that was expected but not as it was. They lost by a margin of 39points.
One thing I realized though was that Silalei Owuor, one of the most decorated basketballers in Kenya, was not very fit. Its evident she's not been hitting the gym. I am however vouching for Equity to win this seasons league. With a back court comprising of Samba mjomba, Kenya One Hilda Indasi, Silalei Owuor, Norah Sandeh, just but to name a few, I don't see a reason why the should not win the league.
Right now teams are fighting for playoffs births and am sure the league will be action parked so stay put for more information from this blog.
