Strathmore University men's basketball team, "Blades" over the weekend were crowned the champions of the Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) pre-season tournament. The tournament is the season's curtain raiser. It pooled teams from Kisumu, Nakuru, Mombasa and Nairobi.

Blades who are in their second season in the national premier league, the top basketball league in the country, were pooled alongside Kenya Polytechnic, JKUAT and University of Nairobi's "Terrorists". In the opening game, Blades lost to 45 – 51 with Kelvin Waweru scoring 16 points. In the second game, Blades redeemed themselves by beating JKUAT 39 – 17 with Kennedy Maru scoring 15 points while Roy Kahure added 10 points to close the win and qualify for the semi finals.

In the semi finals, Blades beat University of Nairobi's Terrorists 45 – 44 to qualify for the finals. In the finals, Blades met the 2007 premier league champions Co-operative Bank. In the first half of the thrilling final pitting the youthful Blades against the vastly experienced Cooperative Bank, the Blades were trailing 19 – 29.

However, the resilient Blades bounced back and scored 18 points in the fourth quarter to beat the champions 49 – 45. Captain Kennedy Maru steered his team to the win by scoring 18 points while center man Roy Kahure grabbed 12 rebounds to secure the win.

Congratulations to the team and the coach. Meanwhile the ladies basketball team who have qualified for the 2008 premier league lost in the semi finals of the same tournament to Mombasa Sports Club. 

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