Morans lose second game to Nigeria

The national men’s basketball team Kenya Morans succumbed to a second successive defeat at the ongoing 2021 FIBA AfroBasket after going down 55-71 to pre-match favourites Nigeria in their second group D match played at the Kigali Arena, Rwanda on Friday afternoon.

Coming into the game after a spirited showing against Ivory Coast where they lost 88-70, the Liz Mills coached side would have hoped for a much better start against yet another favourite in the tournament as Nigeria are currently the top ranked nation in the FIBA African rankings.

That would however not be the case as they got off to a very lethargic start. A series of missed shots coupled with an inability to score ensured that Nigeria led 1-12 by the time head coach Mills called the first time out of the game after five minutes of play. Despite some slight but not enough improvement, the tough first quarter ended with Kenya trailing 8-20.

The Morans came out a little better at the start of the second quarter with the team managing to cut down Nigeria’s lead to five points for the first time in the match as Mills’ decision of introducing the pair of Fidel Okoth and Valentine Nyakinda matched up with Nigeria’s physicality in the game.

That steam was however short lived as the Olympians managed to stretch their lead to eight points as they led 26-34 by half time.

Just as in the second quarter, Morans rallied up to a five point deficit of Nigeria's lead but it all came crumbling down when they allowed the western nation to hit triple three pointers as they widened the gap to ten points, Nigeria leading 39-49 by the end of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter proved to be the most difficult for Kenya as Nigeria opened up twenty point lead for the first time in the game. Despite chopping it down by five points, Morans ended up losing 55-71 by full time.

In a match that Kenya never took the lead at any point during the game, Albert Odero was the standout player as he knocked down 23 points in the match. He also contributed with eight rebounds and one assist. No other Kenyan player got to double digits. Nyakinda and Okoth had seven, Ariel Okall five and a tightly marked Tylor Okari Ongwae who had a game to forget only managed four.

Heading into the last match, Kenya will need to beat Mali in their last match to have any hopes of extending their stay in the tournament.