FUBA National Basketball League
City Oilers 62-53 Warriors
MTN Arena, Lugogo
Friday, 15-11-2019
LUGOGO – City Oilers won game one of their playoff semi-finals’ series against Warriors on Friday at the MTN Arena in Lugogo.
The six-time defending champions trailed only once in the contest as they powered their way to a 62-53 victory.
Mandy Juruni’s side put the first points on the board thanks to an Ivan Muhwezi lay up in the opening four minutes. However, Warriors responded and eventually led 7-4 with 02:52 on the clock but that is as close to winning the game as they came with Oilers taking the first quarter 12-7 and setting the tone for the victory.
The second was more of a contest than the first as Warriors took it 15-13 and ensured they trailed by just three (22-25) going into the long break.
However, Oliers came back from half time stronger and exercised their authority to win the third 18-11 and take a 10-point lead into the last quarter.
Despite winning the fourth 20-19, Warriors would lose game one 53-62 and now face a must-win game two.
Tony Drileba impressed on the night as he helped himself to a double-double of a game-high 17 points and 11 rebounds. Captain Jimmy Enabu was the only other Oiler to breach the 10 point mark in terms of scoring as he managed 12 points off the bench. Laundry Ndikumana and James Okello were also monsters on the board, picking 11 rebounds in the winning effort.
For Warriors, they had three players breach the 10-point mark in terms of scoring with Chris Omanye scoring a team-high 14 while Stanley Mugerwa and Gatwech Kutai managed 12 and 11 points respectively. Despite grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds, Saidi Amisi was dreadful in terms of scoring as he managed a disappointing 1 (one) point.
In the other game played on the day, Cynthia Irakunda registered a double double of 15 points and 13 rebounds as KCCA Leopards defeated UCU Lady Canons 71-56 in their game one of the Ladies semi-finals.
Martha Soigi and Judith Nansobya were also impressive for the Leopards in the victory as they both managed 15 points.
It was a disappointing day for the Lady Canons the bright spark being captain Sarah Ageno who registered a double double of 20 points and 14 rebounds.
Action in the FUBA NBL returns on Sunday with Betway Power taking on UCU Canons in the Men’s division while KIU Rangers will lock horns with JKL Lady Dolphins in the Ladies division.
Both Power and JKL lead their respective series 1-0 thanks to victories in game one on Wednesday.
