Nairobi City Thunder suffer painful defeat to bow out of BAL

Nairobi City Thunder’s hopes of sneaking into the 2025 Basketball Africa League (BAL) playoffs suffered the biggest of blows after surrendering a 15-point lead to lose 77-74 to valiant hosts APR at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda on Sunday 25 May.

Thunder, with a 1-4 record, came into the Game Six decider needing a win to stand a chance at making the playoffs in Pretoria later this year, but for the second time in the Nile Conference, gave up a big lead to lose right at the end.

A see-saw tie in the final quarter was decided by Obadiah Noel, who against all odds, sank an audacious dagger three-pointer with little over three seconds left to send APR to the playoffs.

Both teams had exchanged leads in the final three minutes of what was living out to be the most pulsating game of the conference, before Noel, right in the face of a double team of Garang Diing and Albert Odero, found a way to hook in a shot as the shot-clock expired.

Thunder, victims of a loud partisan crowd, could not get a shot in time, capping off a painful exit on their debut.

The shot to settle the game was reminiscent of Robinson Opong’s, who drilled a three-pointer from the corner to snatch MBB an unlikely win from Thunder days ago.

Bradley Ibs’ side will however take huge lessons from the championship, and pat themselves on the back for failing to give up even when everything seemed over.

In the decider, Odero again shone all around, scoring eight of Thunder’s first 10 points as the Kenyan side opened up a six-point lead early on.

The barrage never looked like stopping as Thunder, who led by two after the first quarter, drained shots in a 26-point quarter to lead by 10 at the break.

Nairobi City Thunder strike down MBB to make BAL history

That, however, was an understatement of the efficiency the visitors showed, as Odero seared through the defenses and the duo of Uchenna Iroegbu and Tylor Ongwae hit big shots to take Thunder’s lead to a game-high 15 points midway through that quarter.

APR, fuelled by the imposing trio of Youssoupha Ndoye, Aliou Diarra (who had a BAL record eight blocks) and Alex Mpoyo, however started eating into Thunder’s lead after the break, bringing it down to six going into the final 10 minutes.

Diing connected two shots from the corner to keep Thunder slightly ahead, but every time they threatened to pull away, the hosts responded, taking advantage of their size to pound in the baskets.

At the end, it all boiled to composure in a raucous environment.

Thunder fought, responded, but couldn’t get the last laugh. Obadiah had it.