NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 19 – The Kenya Morans lost a 31-27 halftime lead as they went down 69-51 to African giants Senegal in their opening match of the second round of the 2021 FIBA Afrobasket qualifiers in Yaounde, Cameroon on Friday.
It was an improved performance by the Morans under coach Liz Mills as they lost 92-54 during the first leg of the qualifiers in Rwanda last year.
The Morans had gone toe to toe with the Senegalese, outscoring them 13-6 in the second quarter, but couldn’t hold on to the job till the final minute.
Preston Bungei top scored for the Morans, contributing to 11 points and also had six rebounds and two assists. Tom ‘Bush’ Wamukota had nine points for the Morans while Tyler Ongwae and Calentine Nyakinda had six each.
They trailed marginally, 21-18 after the first quarter before skipping into the lead at half time. However, they lost steam in the subsequent quarters going down 25-10 and 17-10 to lose the tie.
Cheikh Bamba Diallo and Ibrahim Faye were Senegal’s toast men as they each bagged 19 points
The Morans will next play Angola on Saturday night before taking on Mozambique. They will need to win just one more match to give themselves a chance of qualification to the final tournament in Kigali later in the year.
