Equity Dumas slam refereeing after playoff exit

Equity Dumas slam refereeing after playoff exit

Equity Bank Dumas have pointed a finger at poor officiating and fan trouble as reasons for their dispiriting exit in the Kenya Basketball Federation playoff semifinals at the hands of Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) despite winning their first two games of the series.

Equity were on the verge of sweeping into the final after winning the opening two games of the five-game series only for KPA to turn the tables on their rivals. 

The exit left a sense of injustice on Equity head of technical team Kahaki Kariuki, who felt the result could have favoured them had referees stamped their authority by making the right calls in the last three games of the series.

Kariuki cited player security as the main reason for their decision to advise players against returning to the court in the fourth quarter with 59 seconds left on the clock.

“We felt the referees failed to express their authority on the game, which is unfortunate because it engendered an environment in which the security of our players could not be guaranteed.

“We understand the value of the fans to any team, including us, but there is no place for fans encroaching the court in professional basketball.

“In Nairobi, the referees could not have allowed such a thing to happen,” he fumed.

When pressed to reveal their next course of action, Kahaki left them matter to their team manager but called for the federation to crack the whip on teams that fail to control fans as a radical step that will restore sanity to the game.

“In every sport, the security of the players comes first, and basketball is no different.

“If we want to develop the game so that we are at par with the elite leagues in the world we must say not to uncouth behaviors like these.”

Equity team manager Godfrey Abuya also called out poor officiating as a major challenge that will hamper the development of the game in the country.

“Our players played well as we expected of them, but the referees put a spanner in our works by overlooking many calls that could have made the game neutral.

“They kept promising us of correcting their failures by there was no evidence of that up to the last game.”

KPA will renew their rivalry against Ulinzi Warriors in the finals, who dethroned them from the championship in 2019.

The date of the finals will be announced after national team Morans trip to Senegal for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 qualifiers later this month.

Kenya is in Group ‘D’ alongside DR Congo, Egypt, and hosts Senegal in the three-day tournament is slated for Dakar between February 25 and 27.

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