Basketball: Ulinzi Warriors upbeat of finishing top despite mixed results

Defending champions Ulinzi Warriors remained third with 34 points after registering mixed results in their return to the KBF Premier League over the weekend.

The champions, who recently qualified for the round of 16 of the Basketball Africa League in Tanzania, were shocked 64-56 by Thunder on Sunday. This is after edging out Strathmore Blades 65-52 on Saturday.

The soldiers have so far won 16 matches and lost two, which gives KPA an edge over them for the top spot.

Speaking to the Standard Sports, Ulinzi coach William Balozi said they are confident of catching up with leaders KPA despite their mixed results.

“We had a very good game on Saturday but fell short on Sunday. Maybe it was fatigue but our opponents played very well. Everything went against their plan because we could not execute our set plays and game plan.”

“Despite that, we are still Ulinzi and we are going to take the defeat as a motivation to come back stronger. We have a couple of games in hand and if we win all of them I am sure we will catch up with KPA,” said Balozi.

In Mombasa, KPA intensified their push to finish this year's Premier League regular season in first position after garnering maximum four points in their two return leg matches played at their KPA Makande Gymnasium.

The dock men defeated visiting Kenya College of Accountancy University 78-58 in their opening match on Saturday before thrashing Kisumu-based Lakeside 90-62 on Sunday.

The victories saw KPA maintain their 12 -team league leadership with 37 points from 19 wins and only one loss.

Lakeside, who are battling to qualify for their second play-offs appearance, are seventh on the table standings with 24 points from seven wins and 10 losses.

Equity Bank maintained their second place in the log with 35 points after seeing off Emyba 71-41.

Blades revived their hopes of qualifying for the play-offs when they harvested three points from their two-weekend outings.

After losing 65-52 to Ulinzi Warriors on Saturday, Blades recovered to edge out an unlucky Eldonets 62-60 the following day.