City Thunder savour maiden KBF league title
City Thunder players during their Kenya Basketball Federation men's Premier League playoff final against KPA at Makande hall, Mombasa on July 13, 2024.
What you need to know:
- KPA experienced coach Cliff Owuor conceded defeat.
- "We had a bad day having played better at home. We had injuries and City Thunder is a good team having trained together for a long time"
City Thunder are the 2023 Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) men's Premier League champions.
City Thunder entered the history books, lifting their first-ever title after seven years of waiting, dethroning nine-time champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) 3-0 in the Best-of-Five Series final.
The Twende-sponsored team had beaten KPA 73-70 in Game One, and won Game Two 59-50 at KPA Makande Gymnasium a week ago. On Saturday, coach Brad Ibs comfortably won Game Three 84-48 at Nyayo National Stadium to wrap up the series.
Thunder coach Brad Ibs said, "We are happy with the victory after a long wait and now want to shine in the Basketball Africa League (BAL)."
Cheered by the big crowd behind them, City Thunder frustrated the champions in the entire first quarter. They took a comfortable 26-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and increased it to 42-25 at halftime.
On resumption, KPA remained on the receiving end with coach Ibs rotating his on-form bench effectively. It worked as they carried a huge 35-18 lead at the end of the third quarter, before securing victory in the final quarter.
KPA experienced coach Cliff Owuor conceded defeat.
"We had a bad day having played better at home. We had injuries and City Thunder is a good team having trained together for a long time."
Unbeaten Thunder topped the regular season with 44 points, and saw off Equity Dumas 3-0 in the semi-finals, as KPA knocked out Strathmore University Blades 3-0 to qualify for the final.
