Sunguti confident in squad after first KBF league win

Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) men’s league side Umoja head coach Kevin Sunguti has expressed confidence in his squad rising from their poor start in the league to cause some major upsets in the league.

Umoja picked their first win over the weekend as they carried the day in the highly-hyped and physical Eastlands’ derby, beating arch-rivals Embakasi Youth Basketball Association (EMYBA) 80-6.

The loss put a dent on the Abel Nson-coached EMYBA’s momentum as they had gone three matches unbeaten since losing their season-opening fixture to former champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in a 77-68 outcome. EMYBA had beaten Kisumu Lakeside 80-55, Terror 62-44 and 2019 finalists Nairobi City Thunder 76-63 before being humbled by Umoja.

“We have not been training as a unit since the season threw off but in the week leading to the EMYBA match everyone was available and being a derby they knew what to expect and worked for this win. We led from the first whistle and everyone played with determination. However, in the final quarter we struggled to protect our basket, the players were unsettled despite the big lead and had we not put the match out of their reach in the first three quarters our mistakes in the last period might have led to a painful loss. That is an area that we are working on going forward even as we look for that team cohesion and rhythm as the new entrants are yet to gel with the rest of the squad,” said Sunguti after the victory.

New signing Brian Oyoo came through for Umoja in a big way as he contributed 16 points from five three-pointers and one converted free throws. Michael Munene made 15 with Collins Sudi adding 13 to the tally. Sunguti’s men managed to restrict EMYBA’s lethal scorers Eugene Adera and Thomas Kioko to just seven and nine points respectively as team veterans Emmanuel Ekai and Fredrick Odongo managed 12 and nine respectively in the loss.

“We were wasteful on the free-throw line and missed some easy points on the paint but our defence was our saving grace as we managed to rebound well on defence to cut their second-chance points,” added Sunguti.