- KIU Titans 61-64 City Oilers
Four-time National Basketball League Champions City Oilers saw off KIU Titans in the first of their six games lined up for this week.
Propelled by a strong start at Lugogo Indoor Stadium, Oilers completed a regular season double over Titans with a 64-61 win on Monday night.
Starters Landry Ndikumana, Stephen Omony, James Okello, Jimmy Enabu and Ben Komakech took care of business for the Zone V champions in the explosive first quarter in which they scored 26 points while limiting their opponents to just half of their score.
Titans trimmed away in the second quarter with Captain Sudi Ulanga connecting from deep to pull KIU within a point (29-30) but failed to defend their 3-point line in the final 40 seconds of the frame letting Komakech bury from the top of the mountain and Enabu hit from the corner at the buzzer for Oilers to lead by 7 points at halftime.
Offense was at premium on both ends in the third period but Oilers prevailed over Titans 9-7 to lead by 9 points heading into the final quarter.
Geoffrey Omondi opened the fourth quarter with a pair from the line and Oilers’ lead was in double figures.
However, KIU fought their way back into the contest thanks to Collin Kasujja’s defensive energy off the bench. The guard forced Oilers into several handling errors with one of the steals leading to a 3-pointer by Ulanga which levelled the game at 51 with six minutes to play.
From that point on, Enabu and Omony took over the scoring roles for Oilers. Enabu scored 8 of his game high 16 points in that interval.
Ndikumana (12 points, 14 rebounds), Komakech (11) and Omony (9 points, 9 rebounds) came in handy for Oilers.
Ulanga had team-high 15 points in a losing effort for KIU. Michael Bwanga (14) and Ethienne Kazungu (13) also reached double figures in scoring.
Meanwhile, City Oilers return to action tonight against Warriors on the same floor.