Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) beat champions Ulinzi Warriors 69-58 to lock the play-off finals 1-1 at the Makande Welfare Hall in Mombasa on Sunday.
The porters, well aware that another slip up will dampen their spirits when the series move to Nairobi, went to work from start and refused to be cowed.
"I told my boys that we were not going to trail in this game. The moment we are down, we will be out. That was my game plan and the boys responded well," said Sammy Kiki.
"We played so well as team, committed less turn-overs and executed well. But the key to this win was our defence."
"We went in strongly from the opening tip, cut off their shots completely and maintained a good lead through out. Now we will prepare for Nairobi."
A 17-point glut from Martin Kitongo, John Winjas and Lennox Wanje saw the home team take a solid 21-12 first quarter edge.
KPA opened the second quarter with a barrage of three successive treys from Tobias Onyango and Ken Wachira, which completely demoralised Ulinzi.
The soldiers, 68-66 victors the previous day, did not recover from the onslaught and went on to trail 35-27 as the half time whistle sounded.
Ulinzi coach William Balozi hailed the home teams performance saying they never gave his boys a chance from the word go.
"They wanted it more. We didn't respond at all, making mistakes that costed us. But we will go back to the drawing board for the Nairobi games," said Balozi.
KPA continued to hammer Ulinzi in the third quarter, picking up points for a solid 50-38 cushion before Nick Ogol's presence was felt in the last.
Midway through the deciding stanza, the porters were up 60-44 forcing Ulinzi to call a time out to stem the tide. This did not help as KPA roared on.
Wachira nailed 18 points and Winjas added another 10 to pep KPA. Eric Mutoro led Ulinzi with 16 as James Mwangi tallied 11.e
The best of five game series now shifts to Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi on Saturday.
