Mwalo confident of a strong comeback for varsity side

University of Nairobi (UoN) men’s basketball side Terror found the going tough in their first Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) premier league match as they went down to Embakasi Youth Basketball Association (EMYBA) 62-44.

However, team skipper Sam Mwalo is confident the team will make amends in their next match as they look to upset the form book and pick a win against their next opponent.

“We had a good pre-season. We maintained the core of the squad that did duty as we were gaining promotion to the premier league. We only have one addition to the team and he is gelling well with the rest of the squad. If we looked rusty in our last fixture is because, just like every other team, we had a long layoff. We are, however, working to restore the team’s chemistry,” said Mwalo. 

Against EMYBA, Pharez Adala top-scored for the students at 18 points. EMYBA took a five-point lead at the end of the first quarter in the match, scoring 16 points before adding 11 in the second quarter. Terror were slightly better in the second quarter as they outscored EMYBA by a point for the match to head to the break with the eventual winners holding a slight four-point advantage.

The Eugene Genga-coached varsity side had managed to restrict EMYBA’s lethal point guard Eugene Adera to just six points in the first half. He came alive in the second half to score six of the ten points by EMYBA as Terror managed 10 and added 13 in the final quarter with the other six in the quarter scored by EMYBA captain Thomas Kioko. Terror scored 11 in the final quarter for the 62-44 loss.

“It was a tough match, just as we expected. We played good defense but failed to score the easy points and our rebounding needs some working on. We are working on rectifying our mistakes ahead of the next match as well as team chemistry,” added Mwalo.