Umoja play Thunder, Aviation in basketball league

Men’s basketball Premier League and Division One competitions enter a crucial stage this weekend, with 12 inter-conference matches lined up at Upper Hill School and Nyayo Stadium Gymnasium.

After collecting three points from two matches last weekend, Thunder will again play two make-or-break matches Saturday and Sunday. Saturday, Thunder will start as favourites against Umoja who are bottom-placed team in the Western Conference. The match is set for Upper Hill School from 2pm. Under the new format, each team will play home and away in each conference and will again meet an opponent from another conference. The two conferences - Eastern and Western - each have seven and nine teams respectively.

Thunder will lock horns with Nairobi Aviation College in a second leg match. This will be one of the five fixtures set for Nyayo Stadium Gymnasium on Sunday.

Thunder, who are joint top with former champions Co-op Bank in the nine-team Eastern Conference with 24 points each, will be out to bag four crucial points to move clear at the top.

Victory in both matches will take Thunder’s points tally to 28. They have so far won 10 matches and lost four.

Thunder’s rivals Co-op Bank play Umoja on Sunday. Victory will take Co-op Bank to 26 points from 11 wins and four loses. Co-op Bank’s guard Griffins Ligare and Charles Okutoyi have been on top form and are expected to steer the team to victory.

Umoja are struggling in the Western Conference where they lie bottom with 13 points from four wins and five loses.

Kenya Airports Authority who lost two matches in a row last weekend, will play unpredictable Lions today before they taking on high-riding Blades tomorrow. KAA will be led by experienced Steve Mac’Odongo and Brian Shivachi. The team lies bottom in the Eastern Conference with 13 points from two wins and nine loses.

Lions, who have had struggled due to lack of sponsorship, have won four matches and lost seven and will be battling hard to garner two points.

At Nyayo Stadium on Saturday, Blades will host stubborn Nakuru Club while Terrorists, who beat Mennonites 68-61 last weekend, will meet fellow students Strathmore University. Blades have lost two matches and won nine, leaving them third in standings with 20 points.