Kenyan champions KPA out of Basketball Africa League

Baraka Sadick of Pazi (center) in action against KPA.[FIBA]

Baraka Sadick Athumani will remain a Tanzanian hero for, possibly, a long time as he stole the show, scoring the all-important basket to send Pazi to the Road to BAL East Division Elite 16 with a 69-67 dramatic win in their final qualifier match. 

Playing Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in a high-stakes match at a packed IST Gymnasium in Dar es Salaam in Group C of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) qualifiers, Athumani scored 21 points to emerge the side's second-best scorer. 

More importantly, the 29-year-old shooting guard dropped the winning basket with less than 20 seconds on clock, a clumsy jumper by his standards as he had his markers on his neck, but it got the job done. 

For a moment, the ball seemed to be headed out, having bounced off the rim but lady luck smiled on Athumani as the ball rolled back and even before it could go through the net and into the waiting hands of the KPA players who couldn't be more eager to inbound and give themselves a fighting chance, the hero of the day was being lifted off the ground by the enthusiastic court-side fans. 

He had just made it 21 for himself but that did not matter as Pazi were now two points ahead and only needed to deny KPA a scoring chance to book their ticket to Johannesburg where East Division Elite 16 matches will be held in November (14-19).

Eugene Adera gave it a try, racing down the court to rise above his marker for a three but his effort went past the rim just as the buzzer went off to signal the end of the highly entertaining game, Pazi's victory and their ticket to the next round in their first time of asking. 

Dhieu Abwok Deing was, once more, the engine that kept Pazi's machine smoothly rolling throughout the match, remaining on the court for the entire 40 minutes of play and dropping a game-high 24 points. 

The first quarter was a see-saw affair, KPA drawing first blood through Bright Osagie but Abwol Deing responded almost immediately from behind the arc to hand Pazi the lead. 

Tyronne Maliek Jordan reclaimed the Kenyan side's lead with a three of his own but, like clockwork, the lethal Abwok Deing was at hand to make it 6-5 in favour of Pazi. 

KPA kept pushing to give themselves a 14-9 lead that forced Pazi into a timeout, the break working in their favour as they levelled the score at 15 and kept the dockers in check as the period ended 18-17 in favour of Guy Arnaud's charges.

The Kenyans scored six in the opening three minutes of the second quarter for a 24-19/lead and Henry Mwinuka needed another moment with his charges to restrategise.

Their fans rallied them on for a 26-24 scoreline and it was Arnaud's turn for a timeout, but that did little to stop Pazi's trajectory as they assumed lead at 27-26 off a Landry Ndikumana three-point shot.

The scores were tied at 28 but Athumani's mid-range jumper regained the lead for Pazi at 30-28 as his side took a one-point lead into the half-time break with a 33-32 score line. 

A third-quarter brilliant display by Pazi put a stop to KPA's rally that had handed them a 37-33 lead in the opening three minutes as Athumani bagged back-to-back treys to reclaim the home side's lead at 41-39 and was massively involved in his side's 45-39 advantage halfway through the quarter.

Pazi scored 24 while restricting KPA to 14 to take an 11-point advantage to the final stanza of the highly-charged decider clash. 

The Kenyan side slowly dug themselves from the rabbit hole they had dug themselves in to come to within a basket of Pazi at 62-60, eventually drawing level at 67 points before losing by a single basket.

Maliek Jordan who was taken off with a few minutes to play in the final period top scored for KPA with 21 points as Luqman Leon Lundy and Adera added 17 and 11 respectively in the loss.