Basketball: Equity Dumas sweep Warriors to book Thunder in playoff semis

Title hopefuls Equity Bank Hawks are through to the Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) men's league semis after shooting down former champions Ulinzi Warriors in a best-of-three quarters. 

Having won Game One 72-63, the bankers came out guns blazing in Game Two played on Friday night at Nyayo gymnasium to finish off Bernard Mufutu's men 81-71 and book unbeaten Nairobi City Thunder in the semis. 

Kenyan U18 basketball sides settle for bronze in Afrobasket qualifiers as Uganda dominate

Coach Carey Odhiambo's men got the campaign off to a good start, taking the first quarter 22-14 for an eight-point lead and making the difference 14 with a 25-19 second quarter performance. 

The Elisha Odhiambo-powered soldiers played a better third quarter, managing to tame otherwise free-scoring bankers as the period ended 16-all for the difference to remain. 

A fourth quarter 22-18 show by Mufutu's men was too little too late to turn the trajectory of the match as the bankers picked the 10-point victory to book the star-studded Thunder. 

Marol Achei led the bankers on points with 17, Eugene Adera adding 16. Victor Ochieng and Faisal Aidan added 11 points a piece in the victory. 

Elisha emerge the match's top scorer with 21, Brans Nzioka and Reagan Okere contributing 12 each in the loss. 

The bankers had dominated the paint from the get go as Warriors defense failed to stop their scorers of the day.

The best-of-five semis promise to be a thriller, if Thunder versus Dumas recent match-ups both in the league and in the inaugural Eliud Owalo Foundation basketball tournament are anything to go by.

While the bankers are yet to defeat the title favourites, they have come close.