The Kenya Basketball Federation top-of-the-table clash between Equity Duma and hosts Ulinzi Warriors lived up to its billing at the Ulinzi Sports Complex in Langata, Nairobi on Saturday.
Equity rallied from behind and fought off an abrasive challenge to squeeze out a slim but well-deserved 58-57 win from their tenacious and hard-battling rivals.
Ulinzi imposed their dominance early in the game, taking a 15-12 lead at the end of the first quarter and extending the advantage to 28-25 at the end of the second one.
However, a flurry of squandered chances proved too costly for the hosts who kept shooting blanks for the remainder of the action-packed encounter.
An animated pep-talk by the Equity coach Carey Oketch did the magic to inspire the bankers to an emphatic 50-38 lead in the third quarter.
From that point on, the hawk-eyed bankers looked menacing in every single move they made with almost all their incessant inroads resulting in baskets, much to the chagrin of the partisan home crowd.The visitors made further inroads into the opponent's territory and extended their lead further.
The match was halted for close to three minutes as medics attended to Equity's Bobby Onyango who picked up a knee injury.
The soldiers took advantage of the break to put their house in order, given that the tide would soon turn in their favour on resumption.
As time wore on, the intense action took a heavy toll on the bankers whose steam appeared to have fizzled out, and the soldiers leveraged the situation to wreak havoc and narrow the gap.
Buoyed by their energetic home fans and the tactical changes coach Bernard Mufutu had effected, Ulinzi looked unstoppable in the dying minutes of the game.
Indeed, they should have drawn level with their hosts but Tiberius Menya failed to score on the buzzer with his side trailing by a single basket.
