Bosire rallying Umoja on in chase for East African Basketball title

Kenya Basketball Federation men's league semifinalists, Umoja Basketball, made their East African Basketball Championship Cup (EABCC) debut on Sunday, 5 October at Nyayo Gymnasium, with a win as the second edition got underway.

The Isaac Munywoki-coached side, that has massively beefed up with talent from Nairobi City Thunder for the competition, recovered from a slow start to pick an 89-79 victory over Burundi's Les Hippos.

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Short preparations reason for slow start

Dismas Mbaka and Griffin Ligare combined for almost half of Umoja's points as the Nairobi-based side played for the win.

Mbaka, despite a less-than-expected 2-of-8 from range, led the scoring with 25 points, seven more than Ligare, as skipper Juma added 14, James Mwangi's double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds cementing an astounding performance for the Kenyan side.

"With just five days between the conclusion of Kenyan league action and the start of the championship, our preparations were not the best. Having made significant changes to our playing unit coming here, this win is good for us as it boosts our confidence, and chances of advancing to the Semis as we chase the title," Umoja shooting guard Victor Bosire says.

The visiting side raced to a 10-0 run, catching Umoja flat on their feet, but coach Munywoki called for a much-needed timeout that bore immediate fruits as Juma hit an opening three, his first of two in the opening half, to rally his side to a comeback for 16-10, forcing the Burundians into a timeout.

Clement Karabona was fouled off the break, stepping on the charity stripe to make it a one-point game.

Juma's layup, however, got the home side's momentum back on track, to hold on to their lead (23-21) at the conclusion of the quarter.

Umoja picked up from where they left off in the second stanza, scoring an early basket, but a couple of empty possessions and costly turnovers gave Hippos the chance to make it 25-24 two minutes into the period.

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Hippos switched up their offense, slowing their plays down while making quick transitions on offense, allowing Dushime and Napoleon Abukunze to hit back-to-back threes and grab the lead at 31-28.

In a game of runs as the first half was proving to be, Umoja went on a 12-0 of their own, shutting the Burundians down spectacularly to grab their first double-digit lead at 43-31 with 3 minutes to play, the quarter ending 49-43 to see six points separate the opponents heading to the locker rooms.

Umoja hold on for victory

An opening five minutes of absolute dominance for Umoja saw the side outscore Hippos 12-4 to lead 61-47 for their biggest lead yet (14).

If the opening half of the third quarter was rough for Hippos, the next three minutes would prove unplayable as the hosts did everything defensively to deny the Mnzenzamba-captained side any scoring space.

The Burundians, however, had a better final minute to head to the final stanza trailing 71-55.

Hippos fought to cut back their deficit to single digits with a 12-5 run, but the home side held on in a 24-18 final quarter, in favour of the visitors, for victory. Karabona led the scoring for the visitors with 23 points, adding 14 rebounds to complete his double-double.

Landry Ndikumana also contributed one with 20 points and 15 rebounds in the loss.

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"We had a good start, but some costly mistakes allowed Umoja to go on runs that we struggled to recover from. We will work on such areas and fine-tune on the things we got right here so we can be ready for KPA," Ndikumana, who lifted the inaugural title with Remesha, said.

The side will hope to bounce back when they play KPA in their next match.