Nairobi City Thunder were crowned the East Division champions following a resounding 99-86 victory over Cape Verde’s Kriol Stars on Tuesday night at the Kasarani Indoor Arena.
This triumph mirrored their dominant performance against the same opposition during the group stages when they won 104-71.
With this monumental win, City Thunder made history as the first Kenyan team to ever clinch the East Division title, marking another milestone after they became the first Kenyan basketball team to qualify for the Basketball Africa League (BAL) on Monday night.
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The Nairobi City Thunder’s journey to the BAL has been nothing short of impressive.
After winning the 2023-24 KBF Premier League unbeaten, Nairobi City Thunder started their journey to their historic BAL qualification in Kibaha, Tanzania, where they finished second in a five-team tournament won by Urunani of Burundi.
That performance earned them qualification to the final qualifying round, the Elite 16 East Division tournament which they were selected as the host.
Under Coach Bradly Ibs, the Thunder were placed in Group B of the Elite 16. In their opening match, they delivered a dominant 102-59 victory over M.B.B. Basketball. They followed that up with another commanding 104-71 win over Kriol Stars.
They took on Braveheart in their third group match and won 91-68 to advance to the semifinals where they defeated Uganda’s City Oilers 72-62 to maintain their unbeaten run in the Elite 16, hence securing their spot in the 5th edition of the BAL.
“It has been an amazing experience going 5-0 in front of our fans who kept showing up for us at each game. We have learned a lot, and as we start preparations for the Conferences, we will have experience on what we need to do. We will, however, want to keep some of the things we have been doing, like building good team chemistry,” said Bradley Ibs,after the match.
In the finals, Thunder took the lead in the first quarter, which ended in their favor with a score of 27-22. By halftime, Ibs’ charges were already leading 57-41 as they dominated the second quarter with a 30-19 run, with Ariel Okall leading the charge with 11 points.
The third quarter was equal to the first and second, with the hosts taking the lead 23-16, bringing the scoreboard to 80-57.
However, Hugo Da Silva Salgado’s side dominated the last quarter, winning it 29-19, but it was not enough to take charge, and the final score ended 99-86.
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Now, with both teams having qualified for the Basketball Africa League, they will be aiming for good performances in the main tournament from April to June. The tournament will be split into three conferences
The Kalahari Conference group phase will take place from April 5 to 13 in Rabat, the Sahara Conference group phase will run from Saturday, April 26 to May 4 at the Dakar Arena in Senegal, and the Nile Conference group phase will be held from Saturday, May 17 to 25 at BK Arena in Kigali, with the finals taking place in Pretoria, South Africa, on June 14.
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