Battle looms as USIU qualify for knockout stage

ZETECH's Zedekiah Onganga, left, and Keith Mbeera of USIU during national league at St Paul's University Limuru on Saturday, October 25th. 2014. Photo/Jonah Onyango.

Real challenge now beckons for United States International University (USIU) men's basketball team.

The students became Kenya's first side to qualify for the semis in the ongoing Fiba Africa Zone V Clubs Basketball Championship in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

They defeated National Engineering from South Sudan 61-50 to make the last four with maximum six points in the tournament.

The varsity side defeated Uganda Christian University (UCU) and Savio from Tanzania in their earlier encounters.

USIU were expected to play Rwanda's Patriots last evening to determine winners of Pool A. Only half a basket separated the two, with Patriots enjoying the thin lead.

“We have been taking a game at a time. Our defence has been our strength. We relied on man-to-man marking and having a lot of teamwork in the matches,” USIU head coach Isaac Munyoki said.

Munyoki added they had to readjust their strategy when playing the lanky Sudanese, who were brilliant with high balls.

“Since they were taller than us, we decided to beat them with speed. I am happy our plan was perfectly executed,” Munyoki added. The team's captain Derrick Juma said it has been a good ride so far, but were expecting tougher opposition as they enter the knockout stages.

“The desire to win has propelled us to the victories. We all know that real battle begins at the semi-final stage. We must keep our cool and stay focused. It will be difficult, but we are equal to the challenge," Juma said.

Meanwhile, Ulinzi also won their third game against South Sudan’s side Citizen 64-46 in men’s pool B, but their fate of making it to the semis last evening clearly relied on Uganda’s City Oilers defeating Espoir of Rwanda or Espoir winning by not more than 25 points.

At the same time, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) finally had the perfect chance for revenge against USIU in the women's matches.

The students defeated KPA during league finals at Kasarani Stadium last season. But this time round, it was KPA, who had the last laugh as they won 72-51. KPA won the quarters 17-14, 19-09, 19-12 and 17-16.

Coming to this match, KPA were in a tight fix; they required to win, by all means, to remain in contention. Before that they had lost 60-64 to UCU.

The match was highly-charged, no doubt. So tense was the match that none of the coaches sat throughout the match. They were pacing up and down; issuing instructions and calling for constant time-outs.

Granted, the students were crowd's favourite, but that did little to stop KPA from putting them in their place. They were totally outclassed and outplayed, their support notwithstanding.

KPA’s Natalie Akinyi was purely oozing class as she destroyed USIU with runs that left her markers gasping for breath.

Just like in the other matches, KPA left no chance for Sara Chan, Cynthia Irankunda, Georgia ‘Ching’ Adhiambo and Angela Okoth to rove within their defence.

From the way the dockers played, it was evident that Anthony Ojukwu and his assistant Phillip Onyango had carefully selected the eight players, who executed the job.

“We realised the mistake we made against UCU, so we had to carefully vet the players. We went for aggressive players, who could pin USIU. Everything worked for us,” said Onyango.