Playoffs: KPA out to rekindle title hopes in game three

Kenya Ports Authority men’s team assistant coach Mike Opel has reiterated their determination to win Game Three of their semifinal series against Equity Bank Dumas, who lead them 2-0 after the first two matches.

KPA defeated Equity in both of their regular season match-ups but their shocking 64-54 and 78-66 losses on the bounce have left them on the brink of elimination should they fail to turn it around in Mombasa this Saturday.

Opel is positive their training this week will give them an upper hand in a must-win game three on Saturday.

“We have trained well this week and our focus has been on the weaknesses that we exhibited in the first two games.

“We respect Equity but tomorrow it will be all about us trying to turn this series around. We understand the implications of us failing to win but we are ready to face them and emerge victoriously.”

Opel’s sentiments echo head Coach Sammy Kiki’s observations earlier this week, in which he underlined the need for the dockers to work on their team chemistry and also improve on their perimeter defending.

“We understand that they have good wing players and an excellent frontcourt that can cause us trouble if we do not play good defense.

“We will attempt to throw the first punch and try to hold on to that,” he added.

The Dockers will hope the duo of Victor Odendo and Lenox Wanje will replicate their impressive shooting from game two in which they combined for 27 points with a 50 percent conversion from the field.

Equity skipper and Morans shooting guard Victor Ochieng’ was in a towering form dropping a game-high 29 points while David Siaji added 19 en route to their crucial win.

The winner in this series will be either defending champions Ulinzi Warriors or Strathmore Storms.