Africa Zone 5 Club Championships APR (men champions) KPA (women champions) Cliff Owuor has saluted his players after their magnificent display in last week’s Zone 5 Basketball Club Championships that were held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Indomitable Lions roared to their second successive Zone 5 title after winning all their games in Ethiopia. Playing on a round robin basis, APR started their run with a daunting 98-49 victory over Ethiopian Investments. The reigning champions then followed it up with further wins over Papsy (Ethiopia) 88-36 and Water Sport (Ethiopia) 91-46. APR thumped Kenya’s KCB 65-56 before rounding off a compelling week with a 68-59 victory over local rivals Marines. A lthough Owuor was happy about APR’s progress to the African Club Championships, he conceded that he was not surprised by the outcome in Ethiopia. “Honestly, I was not surprised by the results. I knew that we had the quality to win the tournament,” the ex-Kenyan international said. KCB, who only dropped points against APR, finished second with 12 points while Marine finished (nine points) third after losing to APR and KCB. Just like last year, APR will now weigh themselves with Africa’s finest when the 23rd Africa Club Championships gets underway next month in Tunisia. “We won in Ethiopia but it’s now very important that we keep our focus at what lies ahead (the play offs final and the Africa Club Championships),” he emphasized. Owuor pointed out his team’s offensive play as one area that needs to be looked into. “We received a lot of compliments in Ethiopia but we still have to work on our offense. It is still not coming off very well,” Owuor realized. Last year, APR made their debut in the Africa Club Championships in Angola where they finished in an impressive 6th position. Angola’s Primiero de Agosto won the tournament. Ends
