By JOHN OCHIENG 

Members of the Maseno High School basketball team show off the gold medals won at an under-19s tournament in Durban, South Africa.

Not even the hostile crowds and their tough opponents could deter them from achieving what they had set out to.

Their resolve was strong even when a towering South Africa stood between them and the coveted trophy. 

The Maseno High School's basketball team claimed continental honours by winning the Engen Under-19s African Youth Challenge Cup in Durban, South Africa to add yet another trophy to their trophy cabinet.

Established in 1906, Maseno is one of the oldest schools in the country. It is not only known for academic supremacy, but also for its sporting prowess.

After winning the continental youth basketball showcase early this month, Maseno is undoubtedly in cloud nine and in a class of its own.

The Maseno basketball team became the first one from the Western region to win the national secondary schools basketball title before proceeding to clinch the inaugural East and Central African regional school’s tournament.

This month it became the first Kenya team to win a continental basketball title when they stunned favourites South Africa 70-58 in an epic final in Durban.

"The boys were at their best and had one resolve, to settle for nothing else but the trophy, head coach and also the senior principal, Paul Otula," said.

Maseno entered the championship as underdogs and were not expected to offer much opposition to South Africa or Zimbabwe. In fact cynics questioned the team's competence to represent Kenya. However, when the event got underway they showed scant respect for their rivals and finished the championship unbeaten.

Their first victim was Zambia, whom they handed a 109-69 beating. Then they downed Zimbabwe 78-60, before hammering Lesotho 76-38 in their final preliminary match to reach the semis.

In this round, they met an improved Zambian side that put up a spirited fight but Maseno stopped them 73-57 to book a final date with South Africa.

A beaming Otula says discipline; determination and teamwork is the secret behind their success. "We maintained the highest standards of discipline and always kept trouble at bay."

He says throughout the tournament, the boys displayed skilful play blended with discipline, virtues that earned them respect and admiration from the other countries.

 We became the darlings of the crowds and the toast of the tournament, those we had beaten in the preliminaries were all happy with our performance, he says.

 Besides winning the championship, Maseno also scooped other awards at the tournament.

 The team's kingpin Captain Brian Otieno was voted the "Most Valuable Player" while the deadly duo of Felix Oluoch and Collins Onyando won the "Top Scorer" and "Best Defensive Player" awards respectively. Maseno was also voted the "Team of the Tournament".

However, Maseno have a lot of respect for the South Africans whom they said offered them the toughest opposition owing to the presence of players with vast experience. Some of them play in the South African league and have massive physiques.

"Nearly the entire South African team players were over six feet tall but we were not intimidated. Since we knew we were shorter than our opponents, we strengthened our point guards and ensured all their shots were cut off, a task that we did pretty well," says Otula.

Since the championship, Maseno has received offers from three universities in the United States. The US institutions have requested for the school's profile and list of individual players for possible scholarships.

"We are negotiating for possible scholarships for some of our players after our nationals exams," he says.

Otula said they had to turn down offers from clubs keen on contracting their players to play professional basketball in the South African league.

"Education is our priority. Most of our boys in the team are still in lower high school. They must complete their secondary education first before we can consider such prospects," said the coach. 

"We lay emphasis on quality education. We will only advice them to join those colleges that will be ready to offer quality education," he said.

The South African clubs that had expressed interest in the Maseno players came from Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Coach Otula attributes the many offers they received to the fact that the matches they played were being televised live on state television hence many watched and were impressed by the boys’ style of play. Maseno’s success in sports owes a lot to their academic performance in school and in the national exams. Being a national school, Maseno always emerges among the top schools in national exams.

Otula explains: "The secret of our success in sports lies in the school’s academic excellence, once we are sure and convinced that we can do well in class, we carry the same spirit to the pitches whenever we play and the end result is victory for us."

He says good performance in class gives the boys courage and will to play since they are convinced that nothing is impossible when a considerable amount of effort is applied.

Today, Maseno is also the national rugby seven-a-side champions and also hold provincial trophies in various other disciplines.

The principal also credits the teams success to support from parents. He says all parents must always give consent before a student is involved in any activity and as such all the parents are aware of the sporting activity that their children participate in.

Otula who, incidentally was transferred from Mangu to Maseno as the senior principal in 2001 led Maseno to success for the first time.

Their priority at the moment is to see the form fours through the KCSE examinations then commence preparations for the national basketball title they lost to St Austin this year.

The Engen Cup winning team: Noum Koome, Paul Momence, Gift Nyongesa, Kennedy Lodiong, Noah Dima, James Oman, George Owira, Kennedy Maru , Felix Okoth, James Bett, Collins Onyando, and Brian Otieno (captain).

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