Porters bow out of BAL race after falling to Tanzanians
Athumani scored shot a game-high 24 points for Pazi, who qualified in only their first outing in the tournament. Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has been eliminated from the Road to Basketball Africa League (BAL) after losing 69-67 to Tanzania’s Pazi in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania. This is the first time the porters have been out of the event in three matches. The loss was largely due to a last-second effort from Pazi's Sadick Athumani, who scored the game's highest score of 24 points. The Tanzanians took control of the game, building a 10-point lead at 61-51. KPA will now face South Africa in the next phase of the tournament.
Diterbitkan : 2 tahun lalu oleh BY DAN O'WERRE di dalam Sports
Kenya Ports Authority bowed out of the Road to Basketball Africa League (BAL) after losing 69-67 to Tanzania’s Pazi in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania.
The result means, the porters, who attended the previous two editions of Elite 16 events, will miss out for the first time in three outings.
KPA were buried, courtesy of a last-second effort in Group ‘C’ East Division, by guard Sadick Athumani, who scored the game clincher with 0:12 seconds left on the clock in a match played at a packed IST Gymnasium.
The hard-earned victory saw the Tanzania champions bag the zone’s sole ticket to the next phase of the event slated for Johannesburg, South Africa from November 14-19.
KPA had topped the group in two previous meetings in Antananarivo, Madagascar, joining the last 16 in Kigali, Rwanda, before being eliminated.
The porters, who fell 75-63 to Dynamo Burundi in the opener and thumped Elan Coton of Benin 68-48, led 18-17 in the first quarter and 33-32 at half-time despite Pazi’s efforts to change the tide.
The Tanzanians took over the proceedings; building a 10-point cushion at 61-51 but the never-say-die KPA charged to lock the duel 67-67 with under a minute to play. Athumani scored a game-high 24 points for Pazi, who qualified in only their first outing in the tournament.
Towering former NBA star, Thabeet Hasheem, scored 12 points, pulled down 15 rebounds, and had 7 blocks. Maliek Jordan led KPA tally with 21 points while Luqman Lundy and Eugene Adera added 17 and 11 respectively in the sad loss.
Topik: Basketball