Oilers get in, can focus on familiar NBL playoffs
The Oilers are 30-0 in NBL playoff series, although if there was ever a year when that record appeared in danger, it is probably this one.
City Olilers' Malual Dier in action during a FUBA match. Photo by Michael Nsubuga
By Charles Mutebi
Journalists @New Vision
National Basketball League
Results
Oilers 93 JKL 58
Jaguars 84 Sommet 64
The City Oilers left it late.
Now they can firmly focus on plotting for the National Basketball League (NBL) playoffs, where they have never lost a series.
The Oilers are 30-0 in NBL playoff series, although if there was ever a year when that record appeared in danger, it is probably this one.
The record 10-time champions defeated the JKL Dolphins 93-58 in a must-win regular season finale, with Mer Maker flirting with a triple-double that included a game-high 23 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists. Benjamin Kawumi continued his rich run of form with 19 points, six rebounds, and five assists, with teammate Fayed Bbaale nearly returning an identical stat line. Bbaale had 18 points, six rebounds, and five assists.
Rogers Dauna contributed 12 points, while Joseph Chuma added 10 points and nine rebounds for the champions, who are likely to finish the regular season in eighth position.
If that happens, they will face regular-season winners Namuwongo Blazers in a best-of-three first-round series. The two sides' last postseason meeting was the 2022 Finals, a memorable best-of-seven series that went down to the last possession of Game 7 before the Oilers clinched it.
This year, the scales looked weighted in favour of the Blazers, but the playoffs are almost a different season altogether. Kesseng Kesseng had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Dolphins, with Benon Wobusobozi scoring 13.