Kenya Airways hoping to fly high in NBA playoffs

By Erick Ochieng’

 Nairobi Basketball Association (NBA) league playoff is set for Nairobi Railway Club this weekend.
League leaders Kenya Airways have a date with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (Jkuat) on Saturday in the second match of the day to be played at 11.30am.
Kenya Airways are perched at the top of the men’s Division Two category standings with 63 points after winning 31 of the 32 matches.
Jkuat, on the other hand, finished in the eighth position in the league with 48 points after winning 18 matches.

The playoffs’ opening match will be between Kenyatta University’s Pirates against Strathmore University at 10am. The Pirates finished fourth with 56 points, while Strathmore are fifth with 54 points.
NBA Fixtures Secretary Caleb Osewe stressed that the games shall be on home and away basis and teams that have not settled the transfer fees will not be allowed to take part in the play-offs.

Observe time

He urged teams to observe time and added that the women’s playoffs shall begin from October 8.
Second-placed Barclays Eagles (60 points) will take on Baraka Extreme who finished seventh with 51 points, while Upper Hill School that struggled at the weekend to make it to the playoffs bracket have a date with Old Pirates.

The teams will again play their second matches on Sunday. Teams that did not make it to the playoff zone in the men’s category are Little Prince, Legacy, Don Bosco, Multimedia University, Neosasa Morans, Heroes, Friends of Basketball of Kenya, Aquinas High and Dolphins.
Aquinas had the highest number of forfeited matches (nine) and were closely followed by Dolphins that had five.

Safe Spaces and Africa Nazarene University top the women standings with 15 points apiece after winning seven matches and losing one each.
Apart from the two, Jkuat and Barclays Eaglets have also qualified for the women’s playoffs to commence in the semifinals stage.