Kenya Morans fall to Senegal in friendly tie
Kenya Morans' Tom Wamukota (left) tries to dribble past Senegalese players during their friendly match at Greenhills school's arena in Kigali on August 22, 2021.
What you need to know:
- Senegal’s head coach Boniface Ndong termed the game as a good starter for the two team and added that Team Kenya is a solid team.
- “The Morans are a good team and they know what they are doing. They offered a good opposition,” said Ndong.
- Senegal is in Group D against Cameroon, South Sudan and Uganda.
In Kigali, Rwanda
Kenya Morans lost to Senegal 74-67 in international friendly match at Green Hills school arena in Kigali, Rwanda on Sunday ahead of the 2021 Fiba Afrobasket championships.
The 30th edition of the Africa Basketball championship is set to tip off Tuesday at the iconic Kigali arena.
Senegal, who are five times continental champions, played an easy, but cautious game against Kenya,who are returning to the Afrobasket for the first time in 28 years.
Morans' Tom Wamukota started off the scoring after a two point jumper in the second minute of the first quarter.
However, Senegal’s Gorgui Dieng was quick to respond on the other side after he launched a successful long-range missile to earn his team the first three points.
From that point, Senegal maintained the lead to the end of the first quarter with an eight-point lead as Cheikh Bamba Diallo registered six points for his team.
The second quarter was no better for Team Kenya as they let Senegal penetrate their defence with ease to lead 40-28 by halftime.
Having identified Morans’ weak points, Senegal increased their lead to a further 15 points in the third quarter.
By the end of the final buzzer, Morans had managed to reduce the margin to seven after they took charge of the game and controlled the pace.
Tylor Ongwae registered eight rebounds and three steals to score a total of 18 points to finish as Morans' top scorer.
“It was a good game against a good team but there are a lot of things we need to work on before our first game on Wednesday. We have to play faster, we have to stop the transition offense from our team,” said Ongwae.
Kenya’s head coach Liz Mills said that it was a privilege to play against a good team with depth in the bench team.
“Our goal is to participate and compete in every single game and get out of the group phase and after that anything is possible in Afrobasket,” said Mills.
Senegal’s head coach Boniface Ndong termed the game as a good starter for the two team and added that Team Kenya is a solid team.
“The Morans are a good team and they know what they are doing. They offered a good opposition,” said Ndong.
Senegal is in Group D against Cameroon, South Sudan and Uganda.
