Kenya’s national basketball champions, Nairobi City Thunder, finally got a win at the ongoing Basketball Africa League group phase (Kalahari Conference) after beating hosts Johannesburg Giants 71-65 in their second match of the tournament at Sunbet Arena, Pretoria in South Africa on Sunday evening.
Thunder began their campaign on a bad note, losing the East African derby against rivals Dar City, who were just making their tournament debut, their second win after defeating Thunder 90-85 on Saturday, after squandering an almost 13-point lead.
The Nairobi-based side began their clash against the South Africa side, a Florsheim Ngwenya-coached outfit, building a 12-point cushion before the break, briefly losing momentum, but ultimately controlling the tempo to grind out a narrow first-quarter win.
They extended their lead going into halftime, winning the quarter 25-18 for a 43-31 advantage.
The third quarter saw Thunder lapsing with defensive errors and poor rebounding, which allowed Johannesburg to erase the 12-point deficit, winning the quarter 21-9 and leveling the score at 52-52 heading into a tense final period.
Determined, the Kenyan champions tightened up defensively in the fourth quarter and managed their turnovers more effectively, closing out the game strongly, winning the quarter 19-13 to secure a valuable 71-65 victory, their first of the BAL 2026 campaign.
Thunder, the National Basketball Federation defending champions, unbeaten for two consecutive seasons, will now enjoy a two-day break before returning to action on Wednesday, April 1, against the Petro de Luanda side at 5 pm EAT.
