Power rendered Power-less by Warriors

Dec 13, 2010

SUNDAY night at YMCA, the Kyambogo Warriors were beating Power 84-81 in Game 5 of the FUBA men’s division 1 playoff finals. Yesterday afternoon they were back in practice.

By Charles Mutebi

SUNDAY night at YMCA, the Kyambogo Warriors were beating Power 84-81 in Game 5 of the FUBA men’s division 1 playoff finals. Yesterday afternoon they were back in practice.

Clearly these Warriors are not prepared to hand Power their crown.

“There is no time to rest,” said Warriors coach Gad Eteu. “It’s only this week (left in the season) so there is no room for excuses. “We have to do everything we can to make sure we stay the masters of our own destiny.”

Few will doubt Kyambogo’s ability after watching them return from the brink of a clean sweep to win the last two games of the best-of-seven series. With Power’s lead reduced to a single game, there is a strong feeling that anything can happen now.

After all, if the Game 4 and 5 have proved anything, it is that the Warriors have figured out a way to avoid the fourth-quarter collapses that cost them Game 2 and 3.

Kyambogo blew 17-point third-quarter leads in Game 2 and 3 after failing to handle Power’s famed full-court press.

In the subsequent matches, they have dealt with it comfortably. They outscored Power 26-21 in the fourth period of Game 4 and lost out 19-18 in the same quarter of Game 5.

Eteu revealed that one of the reasons behind Kyambogo’s two-game winning streak has been ending matches strong.

“We have worked on fourth quarter basketball,” the coach said.

The Warriors have also benefited from Ronnie Kasewu’s burst of form, which has seen him drop 19 and 25 in the last two games respectively.

Abdullah Ramadan has also kept scoring and the 18 points he bagged in Game 5 meant he remained the only player to reach double figures in each game in the finals.

As for Power, the prospect of throwing a 3-0 series lead must be playing on their minds. They looked tense in Game 5 and players could be seen blaming each other during critical passages of the match.

Bernice Ankunda has to find away of making the wealth of attacking talent functioning together again.

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