By Oscar Pilipili
Fireworks are expected as coach George Mayienga leads Nairobi International School (NIS) against his former team, Laiser Hill in semi-final of Brookside National Secondary Schools Championship.
Laiser Hill beat Kangaru 122-37 in their last group match to top boys’ basketball Pool ‘A’ on an unbeaten record. NIS had a fine finish at the group stage after they hit Alliance 81-41 to finish second in Pool ‘B’.
Mayienga left Laiser Hill to join NIS last year after leading the Rift Valley to two national and one regional title.
Michelle Auma of Buruburu School (left) evades Tigoi Girls’ Leah Atieno’s tackle in a basketball preliminaries match at Upper Hill School, Thursday. [PHOTOS: MARTIN MUKANGU/STANDARD]
He will be facing an experienced Laiser Hill technical bench under leadership of Smarts Olumbo who also handles national league side Eagle Wings. Mayienga said: "The game will be hard but we’ve a strategy."Keep Reading
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Laiser manager Anthony Karimi said: "We know he has coached us but we’ll do what is required to win."
Third title
Karimi said inspirational captain Sudi Ulanga, who has played only one match, is fit for the crunch semi-final match.
"We thought Sudi would be fit to play the first match but we substituted him when we realised he was down in our first match against Friends School Kamusinga," he said.
Whereas Laiser Hill are chasing their third title in a row, NIS are out to announce their arrival at national stage by qualifying for the final.
Western Province champions Kamusinga have a date with Maseno of Nyanza in yet another classic final in the event.
Coached by their principal Paul Otula, Maseno defeated Wajir of North Eastern 135-4 in a one-sided Pool ‘B’ encounter to finish the preliminaries on a clean sheet.
Training session
The match was more of training session for Maseno as they used the chance to practise for three-pointers throughout the four quarters of the game.
Kamusinga, captained by Tylor Okari, ended preliminaries on a sound note when they sunk Shimo La Tewa of Coast 103-85.
Girls’ champions Shimba Hills cleared all obstacles in the preliminaries with a huge 168-0 win over poor NEP in a girls’ Pool ‘B’ basketball duel to maintain unbeaten record at the games.
Shimba, who are also East African champions, clash with Pool ‘B’ runners-up Buru Buru of Nairobi in the semis today.
Buru Buru went down 47-88 against Tigoi in a position one-two match to set a date with the dreaded Coast girls. Tigoi topped Pool ‘A’ following their victory over Buru Buru.
Shimba Hills coach Philip Onyango showed little respect for Tigoi who are favoured to reach the final as he said: "My focus is to win the trophy at the semi-finals."
"I only need to beat Buru Buru (semis opponents) to retain the trophy," he said.