Eldonets rally to edge Lakeside in Kisumu

Eldonets returned to winning ways after narrowly edging out Kisumu Lakeside in a thrilling Kenya Basketball Federation Premier League match played at Manyatta Arabs Primary School in Kisumu on Saturday.

George Oyaa and Kevin Oyugi finished with a team high 10 points as the Eldonets clawed their way back in the final quarter to beat the Lakeside outfit 68-66.

Trevor Gary dropped 17 points, two steals and five rebounds for Lakeside followed by Sila Awuor who finished with 12 points, three assists and four rebounds.

Lakeside led for most of the game and had an opportunity to grab the winner at the buzzer but Allan Kisira’s shot from the three-point line could only go wide as the Kisumu side succumbed to a third straight defeat of the season.

Speaking after the win, Eldonets assistant coach Victor Kwambai said their never die spirit pushed them to the win despite trailing by nine points after three quarters.

“We did not start the match well against Lakeside. We missed easy layups and did not rebound offensively and defensively but am glad the boys listened to the technical bench and pulled through.”

“We stopped playing their game and relaxed. We have very good shooters and when they started to make those threes I knew we could win it. We did not give up and am glad we have our first win of the season,” Kwambai told The Standard Sport.

Lakeside started on a high note with Trevor Gari dropping four consecutive threes’ as the hosts led 21-11 in the first quarter with Marko Odhiambo, Allan Kisira and Sila Awuor also converting at the paint.

Eldonets fought back to reduce the deficit to a four-point game by half time aster outplaying Lakeside 18-12 in the second quarter to narrow the half time scores to 33-29.

Lakeside new signing Joshua Carter would then drop two threes and a layup to get the Kisumu side back into the game as they took the third quarter 24-19.

However, Eldonets fought back in the fourth quarter with Jeremiah Aliva dropping eight straight points from the bench to run over Lakeside 20-9 and seal a deserved 68-66 win.

“The team played well, our plays worked and we had open looks to the basket. A couple of call from the refs didn't go our way and that made Eldonets capitalize on it.

“The team is still working on its chemistry and we are getting there.”

“We will keep working till the win’s start coming our ways, we are in the process of rebuilding a team and we are trusting the process. It's a tough loss since we had the lead until the dying seconds of the game,” said Lakeside coach Brian Lusaga.

Today, Lakeside will take on Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) as Kisumu Lady Bucks entertain KPA women in the KBF Women’s Premier League.