Uganda national men’s basketball team, Silverbacks, coach Mandy Juruni is delighted with returning to AfroBasket.
All Silverbacks needed were three wins in the qualifiers and return to the biennial continental competition and they did just that.
Uganda saw off Somalia and Burundi in the group before defeating rivals Rwanda in a game that decided who joins zone heavyweights Egypt.
A’Darius Pegues led the way with 20 points, Stanley Ocitti and Joseph Ikong contributed 16 points each and skipper Stephen Omonyi had 15 as Uganda defeated Rwanda 77-64.
“(We are) glad to be back in Afrobasket,” Juruni said with delight. ” We promised ourselves to get back there again… It’s a good feeling in the camp,” the soft spoken coach added.
The Silverbacks fell to Egypt in the final of the tournament to come second again
“It was not an easy tournament and for personally, it gets me to grow (as a coach).”
Afrobasket will be staged in Congo Brazzaville from August 19-30, 2017.
Qualified teams so far are Congo Brazzaville (Hosts), Uganda, Egypt, Nigeria, Mozambique and Democratic Republic of Congo.
