MBB's Pretoria playoffs qualification hangs by thread
A win over Thunder would have booked the South Africans a ticket to Pretoria in two weeks, but now they have to beat Nile Conference leaders Al Alhy Tripoli in their final game on Sunday, or the country will not have a representative in the playoffs.
US Imports Teafale Lenard Jr with 39 points and nine rebounds, and Jovan Mooring's 15 points and four rebounds were the standout players for MBB. None of the players who started and those who came from the bench made it past double figures.
MBB missed the presence of 2.13m David Craig, who had stellar performances in their two consecutive wins during the week. His teammate Nkosi Sibanyoni said the player had a stomach ache.
Lenard Jr knocks down a much-needed triple for MBB in a tightly contested third quarter.
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His absence in the paint was severely felt from the get-go defensively as the Kenyans bum-rushed the South Africans.
Ariel Okall Okoll Koranga quickly put up four points through driving layups, and Elbert Odero, together with Eugene Adera, added one apiece from the free throw line.
Stunned by the fast start from Nairobi, MBB head coach Sam Vincent called a timeout.
His talk seemed to calm the nerves as straight from the huddle, Mooring opened the scoring for MBB with a two-pointer, but the Kenyans kept on chipping away at the score and halfway through the quarter, took a 10-point lead.
With MBB cornered, another Lenard Jr stepped up and he scored 14 points, closing the gap and handing the SA side a 24-20 advantage.
MBB stepped on the accelerator in the second quarter and took an 11-point lead halfway, but failure to convert points and rebounds at crucial moments allowed the Kenyans to spark a comeback, eventually going to the break 41-39.
Lenard and Mooring continued their fight in the third quarter, combining for 12 points, but despite those efforts, Nairobi took a 55-54 lead.
Seconds into the fourth quarter, Omar Thielemans put up a two-point layup to hand MBB the lead.
Lenard Jr followed that with another two-pointer and that would be the last time the SA team would take the lead at 58-57 with nine minutes to go.
Lenard would continue making shots, but the other MBB players were lost at sea.
City Thunder quickly extended their lead to a seven-point difference with five minutes to go, and then they went on a stretch to eventually walk away with their first win of the competition.
City Thunder had five players who made it past double figures, with Odero making 23 points.
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