Nairobi City Thunder hopeful of playoffs after first BAL win

Despite four straight losses, the Nairobi City Thunder secured their first win in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) on Saturday at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.

The Kenyan champions beat MBB 85-76, improving their Nile Conference record to 1-4. They are still in a playoff race but depend on other teams' results.

The Kenyan champions came out desperate, and although they trailed at times during the game, they refused to suffer a second straight loss to MBB.

Uchenna Iroegbu’s buzzer-beating three-pointer, which gave the Thunder a 55-54 lead at the end of the third quarter, boosted the BAL debutants' morale.

Alberto Odero’s three-pointer gave Nairobi a 73-63 lead with 4:46 left.

Meanwhile, MBB struggled to contain a Thunder team with six players scoring in the double digits.

Point guard Eugene Adera played the entire game, finishing with 10 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, and two steals.

Adera later discussed the outcome of the game with BAL.NBA.com.

He said: “We just wanted to win. The coaching staff told us that we needed this win."

My teammates put me in the right spots. This win is also for them. We've got one more. Let's go," said an elated Adera, who appreciated their fans' support.

“Our fans back home really wanted this win, and we got it for them. We really appreciate them.”

Many things didn’t work out for MBB, who were chasing their third win of the season.

Pieter Prinsloo, a pivotal piece in MBB’s resurgence, got into foul trouble early on and spent long periods of time on the bench. He shot 1-6, finishing with six points.

Teafale Lenard Jr. finished with 39 points (three points shy of a BAL scoring record) and had eight rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the historic win of Nairobi City Thunder.

Nairobi’s early lead was halted midway through the first quarter, after which MBB went on to lead 24–20 at the end of the first ten minutes.

MBB led by as many as eleven points in the second quarter (33–22), but the Thunder used an 11–0 scoring run to take a 41–39 halftime lead.

Three consecutive dunks from Yohane Kabongo, including a fast-break dunk, cut the deficit to three points (35–32) with 3:49 remaining in the second quarter, prompting Vincent to call a timeout.

Tylor Ongwae, who finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, said that their mindset coming into the game was self-belief.

"We always believed that we could compete against this team."

This win means a lot to our country because it opens the door. Winning the first game is always difficult, but now that we have, I hope many more Kenyan teams will win in the BAL.

Before the game, we talked to each other and agreed that we had to play as a team, and we did well. We still believe that we can get that playoff ticket."