ULINZI WARRIORS CROWNED: But soldiers insists Basketball title was theirs to lose after eliminating KPA

ULINZI VS USIU-A KENYA BASKETBALL LEAGUE Ancette Wafula (L) of Ulinzi challenge Derrick Juma of USIU-A during their Kenya basketball League Finals match at the Safaricom Gymnasium stadium Kasarani in Nairobi, Kenya on December 16 2015. Ulinzi won 77-64. Photo/Stafford Ondego/www.Sportpicha.com

Ulinzi Warriors were crowned Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) men’s Premier League champions on Friday night after downing the United States International University (Usiu) Tigers 3-0 at Kasarani Indoor Arena, in Nairobi.

Ulinzi Warriors head coach, William Balozi said he knew the title was theirs to lose after they beat defending champions KPA 3-1 in the semis.

The soldiers narrowly lost to Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in the finals last season, but were too good for the USIU students this time round.

“KPA were a great threat for us toward the trophy and I knew we were going for another title the moment we eliminated them from the race. We had overcome Tigers both at home and away in the league and this was a confidence booster ahead of our epic finals. We knew the Tigers inside out and I am glad our tactics worked to deny them the trophy,” said Balozi.

Ulinzi, who had triumphed in Game One 81-67 and Game Two 70-56 in the finals played to the best of five series, went guns blazing to post a 75-60 win in Game Three on Friday night which saw them crowned this year’s champions.

The night also saw Ulinzi’s forward Victor Odendo voted Most Valuable Player in this year’s league.

linzi took home Sh200, 000 for the feat while USIU Tigers got Sh100, 000 for emerging runners up.

Tigers, who were hoping to slow down Ulinzi’s charge towards the diadem, began on a good footing as they led the opening two quarters, 12-10 and 18-14.

But Ulinzi turned the tables to win the remaining quarters 23-12 and 19-18 with great contribution from William Ochieng who sunk 18 points.

Joel Ntambwe also scored similar points for the students. Tiger’s head George Mayiengo blamed their defeat on four factors; namely injuries, mass exodus, rules of the game and lack of consistent training.

“In game one, Ulinzi were hard tacklers and this saw my charges develop stage fright. The hard tackles from Ulinzi saw us lose our main point man Alvin Nyangweso to injury in game two," Mayienga said.

"We were so depleted in game three and the rules of the game also do not allow us to field more than three foreign players who were the backbone of our team."

Despite the loss, Mayienga is glad since no one had expected them to make it to the finals.

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