Three-peat: 'Invincible' Thunder rumble past KPA to clinch third straight title
Nairobi City Thunder captain Tylor Ongwae lifts the Kenya Basketball Federation Men’s Premier League trophy after beating KPA in game three of the best-of-five final series at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani on October 2, 2026.
What you need to know:
- Nairobi City Thunder remain unbeaten in the 90 matches they have played in the past three seasons.
- Thunder, who had won Game One and Two 78-67 and 72-63, beat KPA 74-70 for a 3-0 best-of-five win.
Nairobi City Thunder have proven invincible on the local front, beating Kenya Ports Authority 3-0 in the best-of-five Kenya Basketball Federation Men’s Premier League final play-offs to win a third straight title.
Nairobi City Thunder remain unbeaten in the 90 matches they have played in the past three seasons, underlining their dominance on the local basketball scene.
As they did in Game One and Two of the final play-offs, KPA were destined to cause a major upset against Thunder in Game Three played on Friday night at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani Gymnasium.
KPA stormed to a 27-18 lead in the first three quarters, then raced to 35-29 and 48-33 lead after capitalising on Thunder’s ineffectiveness in the final third of the court. But KPA collapsed spectacularly, allowing Thunder back into the game.
Captain Tylor Ongwae who plays as a small forward, and last season’s Most Valuable Player, shooting guard Derrick Ogechi, and combo guard Garang Ding orchestrated Thunder's resurgence in the last quarter to win 74-70.
Thunder, who had won Game One and Two 78-67 and 72-63, are now unbeaten for three straight seasons, both in the regular competition and in the play-offs, a feat no other team has achieved before.
Thunder’s coach, Bradley Ibs, said they were inconsistent and did “boring” things consistently to get the right results.
“For sure we are tired now after a lot of hard work and being consistent for three seasons…one can say we have been okay doing boring things which, however, lead to winning and good results,” Ibs observed afterwards.
“People will say we have professionalised things and the structures but doing what we have done consistently isn’t child’s play,” he said, while pointing out that his team approaches each training session with a never-say-die attitude.
Nairobi City Thunder’s Eugene Adera (centre) dribbles past Tobias Odhiambo (left) and Desmond Owili of KPA in game three of the best-of-five final series at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani on October 2, 2026.
“Maturity is what has kept us growing and going. It didn’t surprise me that we were able to turn around matches where we were trailing by 11 points,” he said, adding that his team’s participation in Basketball African League (BAL) has helped the players grow.
However, he bemoaned his team’s inability to score free shots in the final play-offs, and their inability to deal with pressure.
“We didn’t play well in these series. We missed a lot of shots that we normally would have converted. Our inability to convert free shots made us to play right into KPA’s hands. It made the games interesting though,” said Ibs.
Ibs heaped praises on his KPA counterpart, Robert Mugabe, for turning things around at KPA which nearly ended his side’s dominance.
“It’s just that my players know when to act decisively in tough situations. I give credit to them since they did what was needed at the right time to continue rewriting history,” said Ibs. “As bad as we played, it was a big deal to show up and Ongwae and his charges did that.”
Ibs noted that KPA has immensely improved this season.
“It’s a good team and a well coached side that has what it takes to soon change things on the local basketball scene,” said Ibs.
The American coach said his new signings, among them centre Tom Wamukota, brought something new to his team.
Coach Mugabe was graceful in defeat, and gave credit to Thunder for again standing up to the occasion.
“We had given Thunder too much respect before. We went into previous matches with a defeatist mentality. We stopped being ourselves, but that changed this season,” noted Mugabe.
“We stopped them from doing things that worked for them against us.”
“We didn't have a winning culture at KPA and that is what I have been working on in the last five months that I have been in charge of the team,” he said.
“Self-discipline is another thing I have tried to instil in the players at KPA.”
Mugabe noted that although KPA had won the title nine times before Thunder took over, he went about recruiting younger players, and improved their welfare, which made them start believing in themselves.
“KPA now has all players on contracts, and I can now approach the management and bid for any player in the market. That wasn't the case before,” said Mugabe.
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