The Kenya men’s basketball team, Morans, proceeded to FIBA Afrobasket 2021 qualifiers set in November after a spirited fight saw them beat South Sudan 74-68 in a tight contest staged at the Nyayo National Stadium Gymnasium.
Morans join Angola, Senegal, and Mozambique in the qualifiers where the top three will qualify for Africa’s top men’s tournament in next year.
Kenya finished top of the round robin format after powering past Eritrea, Tanzania, Somalia, Burundi and South Sudan and will now join Senegal, Angola and Mozambique in Pool B of the qualifiers.
The top three from the last qualifiers will advance to the tournament finals to be played in 2021.
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With the match being a decider, fans turned up in large numbers and could not fit in the gymnasium, forcing the match to be delayed for over an hour as the organisers handled the crowd trouble.
Morans led the first quarter 25-19 but the South Sudanese rallied to go for the break leading 30-29.
Kenya would then stretch their lead to 38-32, before moving further ahead to 44-35. The South Sudanese side pulled their way back into the match with a late Pout three, but Kenya again moved into the fourth 52-46.
Griffin Ligare scored a game high 26 points, with France based Robert Nyakundi posting 18 points, while Tunisia based Bush Wamukota hit 13 points.
Earlier in the day, Burundi beat Eritrea 101-54 while Tanzania lost 101-84 to Somalia.
Burundi, Eritrea, Tanzania and Somalia were the other teams in the five day competition.
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