Warriors' coach Balozi relishes top spot as soldiers' rifles fire on

Ulinzi Warriors head coach William Balozi has stressed on the need of keeping their winning momentum intact so as to guarantee them the top position in the regular league of the men’s basketball competition.

The Warriors were victorious at the weekend defeating fierce rivals KPA 73-66 at the Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium and Balozi wants his players not to get their feet off the gas pedal in the three left matches.

“The boys played good basketball as they followed instructions. Everything was flowing according to the way we had trained,” Balozi enthused after the victory.

The win moved Ulinzi to second position with 36 points after 19 matches, winning 17 and losing two.

The soldiers will  meet EYBA  on Tuesday and Thursday before finalizing with Lakeside next weekend.

At the same time his opposite number,  KPA’ s Sammy Kiki says his players played well compared to the first leg, despite going down to the Warriors.

“The team played well, we had some lapses whereby we missed a lot of shots and also had a lot of turnovers.

“We started the game badly in the first quarter, we were trailing with about 16 to 17 points but we were able to recover at some point, unfortunately we couldn’t hold onto it until the last minute,” Kiki said.

Equity Bank are third with 35 points after 20 matches.

Meanwhile Thunder are on their way to finishing in the top four bracket after they hammered Strathmore Blades 58-54 in their second last game of the regular league.

Thunder head Gaya Sadat Gaya has termed the weekend game as ‘tricky’ noting it could have gone either way.

 “I am glad it went our way, as my players played till the last second. I credit them for their resilience. We have one more game to finish our regular season as we head into the playoffs with winning momentum,” Gaya said.

Elsewhere in the women’s premier league Storms moved up to fifth on the log with 23 points after humiliating Kisumu Lady Bucks 65-38 at Manyatta Arabs Primary School in Kisumu.

Lady Bucks had also lost 38-54 to Africa Nazarene University (ANU) on Saturday and have only won one match so far in the regular league.

They are placed last on the table with 14 points after playing 13 matches, losing 12 of them.

The Storms under head coach Abel Nson have one more game to go, against familiar opposition Lady Bucks to complete their regular league fixtures after which they’ll face off with UoN Dynamites in the quarterfinal playoffs.

Men’s Premier League

KCA U 48-58 Umoja

Terror 90-56 EMYBA

Ulinzi 73-66 KPA

Thunder 58-54 Blades

KCA 38-59 EMYBA

Women’s Premier League

Kisumu Lady Bucks 38-54 ANU

Kisumu Lady Bucks 38-65 Storms