City Oilers registered their ninth straight win of the season as they edged Nam Blazers 57-51 at Lugogo Indoor Stadium on Friday night.
It was a game of two halves as Oilers (9-0) who looked to be coasting to yet another comfortable win went ice cold on the offensive end and generous on the defensive in the third quarter to help Blazers chip away at the 20-point deficit.
Oilers who had trained at the Arena on Tuesday and Thursday nights comfortably ran their plays to open up shooters Michael Ngut and Luak Ruai in the first half as the defending champions followed a 17-9 first quarter with a 24-12 output in the subsequent frame.
However, the Blazers (3-2) whose three-point line defence was porous in the first half improved massively in the second half, chasing Oilers’ shooters off the 3-point line as they slowly chipped away at the 20-point deficit scoring as many points in the third quarter as they did in the entire first half.
“We know City Oilers are a shooting team but the players didn’t register that early in the game. Coming to this game I told my players we can live with them [Oilers] working for the twos but we can not give them the three-pointers.
“Once we started defending their shooters and the three-point line better, baskets dried up and they struggled,” Nam Blazers coach Stephen Nyeko said.
Offense was at premium for both sides in the final quarter as there were struggles not just in the field but also on the line.
Oilers were 7-for-23 with skipper James Okello the most guilty for fluffing freebies as he shot 1-of-14 from the line. On the other hand, the Blazers were 9-for-21.
“It was ugly, as ugly as they come but we will take the win,” Oilers coach Mandy Juruni told Kawowo Sports. “It was a game of two halves and I thought we went away from what we did better in the first half and resorted to ‘iso ball’. The guards didn’t create in the second half, they didn’t move the ball and attracted pressure on themselves,” he added.
Ruai finished with a game-high 23 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead Oilers. Ngut added 16 points.
Peter Cheng had a team-high 19 points to go with 9 boards while Michael Makiadi limped to a 14 points and 12 rebounds double-double. Chris Omanye, playing his first game of the season scored 7 points, picked 5 rebounds and handed out 4 assists.
In the women’s division, Zainah Lokwameri scored 21 points, picked 7 rebounds and dished out 5 assists while player of the game Sarah Ageno chipped in with a double-double of 13 points and as many rebounds as JT Lady Jaguars beat Angels 63-30.
