Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) Premier League champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) begun their Road to 2024 Basketball Africa League (BAL) on the back foot after going down 75-63 to Burundi’s Dynamo BBC on Thursday in Tanzania.
KPA who are in Group C of the East Division Qualifiers that also has Dynamo BBC of Burundi, Benin champions Elan Cotton, and Pazi BBC of Tanzania must now win their remaining two preliminary matches to stand a chance of qualifying to the next stage.
The winner of the group qualifies automatically to the Elite 16 round of the East Division to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from November 14-19 and the Kenyan champions will be seeking to repeat their last year’s heroics and perhaps move a step further.
Despite securing the services of French tactician Guy Arnaud alongside four key players in Lugman Lundy, Tyronne Jordan (USA), Abdoulaye Haidara (Mali) and Bright Akhuetie (Nigeria), KPA did not hit the ground running. Kenyan international Ariel Okall is also part of the squad.
KPA trailed the first quarter 17-13 before another poor second 24-13 quarter saw the Burundians lead 41-26 at half time.
In the third quarter, a monster 28-16 show by Dynamo put the game beyond KPA who despite taking the fourth quarter 21-6 could not catch up as they lost 75-63.
Tyrone Jordan sunk a game-high 22 points and Ariel Okal shot 12. The duo was the only once from KPA that posted double digits.
Dynamo were led by King Revolutionary and Israel Oyoro, who both managed 18 points each while Guibert Mijimbere hit 15 and Bienvenu Richard had 14.
At the inaugural edition held in 2019, KPA got their Road to BAL campaign off in style winning all their four matches to finish top.
They earned a ticket to the Elite 16 in Kigali where the Mombasa-based side defeated Ferroviaro de Maputo (Mozambique) 79-67 and Cobra Sports 83-53 but bowed out in the group stage, having missed their opening fixture against City Oilers (Uganda).
KPA made a return for the 2022 edition, booking an Elite 16 place after beating Djabal Basket Iconi (Comoros) 120-37 before losing 66-60 to hosts Club Omnisports de la Police (COSPN) in the qualifiers held in Antananarivo.
The Elite 16 hosted in Johannesburg saw the dockers go winless to exit the competition in the group stage.
KPA Squad: Job Byron, Ty Jordan, Luqman Lundy, Akhuetie Bright, Lennox Wanje, Martin Kitongo, Benjamin Muga, Tobias Odhiambo, Haidara Abdoulaye, Eugene Adera, Gerry Wekesa, Brian Sivachi, Ariel Okal.
