Dar es Salaam — National champions Kenya Ports Authority's hopes of making it into the Elite 16 of the 2024 Basketball Africa League qualification hit a snag after they lost their second match by a basket to Tanzanian champions Pazi.
The dockers had won their second match against Elan Coton after starting off with defeat to Burundi's Dynamos, and needed to beat Pazi to stand a realistic chance of making it into the Elite 16.
However, they suffered a 69-67 defeat in Dar es Salaam, with Baraka Sadick Athumani dropping a basket with 20 seconds left to play.
Athumani was Pazi's second best scorer in the game with 21 points, while Dhie Abwok had a game high 24 points to aid the home side into a precious victory in their first ever attempt at the BAL.
New signing Tyrone Jordan was KPA's top scorer with 21 points while Luqman Lundy and Eugene Adera also posted double digits with 17 and 11 points respectively.
A see saw start saw KPA off the blocks faster and led by half a basket with an 18-17 score at the end of the first quarter, before the home side reversed to lead at halftime.
The third and fourth quarters were opposites, Pazi dominating the third while KPA dominated the fourth, but could not take the game to an end with a winning basket.
Pazi had scored 24 while restricting KPA to 14 to take an 11-point advantage to the final stanza of the highly-charged decider clash.
