NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 3 – National men and women’s basketball Premier League holders Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) began the defense of their titles on a positive note, with routine wins over Africa Nazarene University (ANU) as the play-offs tipped off at the Nyayo Gymnasium on Sunday.
The women’s team turned their duel against the Panthers into a training session as they easily won 61-17, with the men’s team forced to work a bit harder, but still managed to win 68-52 against the Wolfpack.
The ladies team showed their surprise defeat at the Eliud Owalo Foiundation tournament three weeks ago was just a dump on the road, as they gave out a good performance, with head coach Anthony Ojukwu impressed with how they turned up.
“It was a good game. I think we played pretty well. The first rund of the play-offs are usually a bit easy but it is good to pick up momentum as we head into the rest of the play-off,” Ojukwu said after the game.
He added; “What was a problem before was our fitness because we have many players who come from outside Mombasa and having them together sometime is a bit hard. We have a few days to train and that hurt us. But now with the fixture out and a good training program, I believe we will be good to go.”
Easy duel for Ojukwu’s girls
So easy was the duel that Ojukwu afforded to rotate the five on the floor throughout the game. ANU were restricted to just two points in the first half of the game, and they had to wait until midway through the third quarter to score their second basket.
The dockers ran off with a 16-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, with skipper Natalie Akinyi hitting three back to back from downtown, and led 33-2 at halftime.
They rallied to score four more points in the third quarter and surprisingly put in a shift in the final quarter where they outscored the dockers 11-9.
Beryl Otieno’s introduction spurred them a bit, as she managed six of the 11 points, all from the paint.
“We were not just at our best. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. We have a lot to pick up and try to improve,” ANU’s head coach Mike Oluoch said after the game.
Meanwhile in the men’s match, the Wolfpack had a better start and gave the dockers a run for their money, and only trailed by half a basket at the end of the opening quarter, scores at 14-13.
Quick second quarter adjustments for KPA
But, coach Cliff Owuor made quick adjustments in the second quarter to avoid a possible embarrassment by the University lads and by halftime, they had opened a 17-point gap, scores at 41-27.
ANU rallied in the next two quarters, running the portmen close, but the damage was long done in the second quarter when they failed to respond to a KPA surge.
KPA’s point guard Tobias Odhiambo starred with a game high 14 points while Malian Abdoulaye Haidarra and John Wiljass each had nine points.
Justine Opiyo led the rally for ANU, with a 12-point performance, but it wasn’t enough to inspire a fightback.
The two sides will travel down to Mombasa this coming weekend for game two of the best of three quarter final series.
