KBF league: Thunder coach Ibs praises players for unbeaten run

City Thunder basketball team head coach Brad Ibs has applauded his boys for a great show over the weekend when they defeated Strathmore’s Blades in the men’s premier league to continue with their unbeaten run in the league.

Thunder who are now undefeated in seven matches managed to strike the students 85-61 at Nyayo Gymnasium, Nairobi.

“I was really happy with the way our boys played, particularly our level of defensive intensity; it was really great to see them play with that level of focusing commitment on the defensive side of the game.

Also one of the things I saw emerging was greater understanding of some of our offensive sets, I was really happy with the kind of shots that we were getting. We shot the balls good but not great but I was happy with the way the offense played as well,” Ibs said.

At the same time Ibs admits it was not a walk in the park for his team as Blades gave them a run for their money.

“Strathmore is a great young team with a lot of good rebounders which made us work extra hard to try and keep them off of the offensive and I think my players did a good job for that,” Ibs added.

Elsewhere, Ulinzi Warriors head coach Bernard Mufutu has called for improvement after his charges failed to control their leads during their loss to Equity Dumas.

The soldiers lost 70-78 to the bankers in a match staged at Nyayo Gymnasium at the weekend.

“During our fourth quarter we didn’t manage our leads very well, we made a lot of turnovers, we missed a lot on the line and we did foul a lot. We were fouled too but we failed to convert well as Equity did on the line.

We basically lost the game on the line. It was a hard fought win from Equity but I think as a team going forward we need to manage our game leads and make better decisions as we go down the stretch,” Mufutu said.

Bernard Mufutu’s charges jumped to a 19-15 lead in the first quarter, the 4-point advantage proving crucial as the second quarter was closely fought with the Bankers taking it 16-13 but Ulinzi carried a one-point advantage to the break.

The soldiers played better after the break as they won narrowly the third quarter 19-18 before the bankers rallied to win the last quarter in 15-13 to take the game to 64 Ups at the end of normal time.

The hard game went to extra time with Equity maximizing their efforts to win it 14-06 as the game ended 78-70 at the final buzzer.

Strathmore Blades 61-85 Thunder

Equity Dumas 78-70 Ulinzi Warriors

KU Pirates 55-62 ABSA

ANU Wolfpacks 61-43 Eldonets Platinum

Strathmore Blades 44-52 KPA

UON Terror 49-73 KPA

Equity Dumas 70-54 Eldonets Platinum