Hosts Lenana continue fine run in games

By Erick Ochieng’ and Titus Onserio

Hosts Lenana A continued their good run in basketball when they beat Wachoro High 24-20 in a tough thriller at the ongoing Lenana Founders Day Championship yesterday.

The contest, which saw Lenana sail to the quarter-finals, had Innocent Adagala scoring a game-high 12 points in the match.

Wachoro’s pointman Joseph Njera mustered seven points in the closely-contested match. Despite the defeat, Wachoro coach Patrick Njagi was optimistic, saying his charges are now ready for the forthcoming zonal school games. Lenana coach, Raymond Kinyua, was upbeat, saying his team would strive to show the same form at the national schools’ championships.

Tough Match

"It was a tough match and, as you can see, the crowds were agitated, I hope Lenana goes this way in the national schools championships," said Kinyua.

However, Lenana’s victory was short-lived as Friends School Kamusinga overcame them in the quarter-finals. Defending champions Mangu beat Nakeel 19-5 to increase their chances of retaining the coveted basketball trophy. In another match, Sunshine taught Dandora Secondary a lesson as they won 17-2. But Friends School Kamusinga sailed to the quarter-finals without breaking a sweat when their opponents Kijabe failed to turn up at the court.

In girls’ basketball, Parklands beat Loreto 6-0 as Kenya High fell to Pangani Girls 24-0. It was not a lucky day for Kenya High as they lost again to Precious Blood Riruta 9-1 and to St Francis 14-0.

Lenana sailed to the boys’ hockey semi-finals after edging out Nairobi School 6-5 in a close contest. Mangu, who were also defending the hockey title, edged out Alliance High 3-2 to make it to the semi-finals. Kamusinga overcome Moi Forces 2-0 and Kiambu edged out Nakeel 3-2 in other quarter-final matches of boys’ hockey.

Tournament organisers Kinyua and Leonard Wanjohi said they would ensure next year’s event is bigger and better after being overwhelmed by the massive turnout, which saw several schools denied participation.