Oilers make statement with UCU win
UCU have now dropped two in a row and three of the last five, the excitement around their recent revival starting to wane.
PHOTO: Michael Nsubuga
By Charles Mutebi
Journalists @New Vision
National Basketball League
Results
Men
Oilers 85 UCU 54
Namuwongo 84 KIU 63
The City Oilers do not make statement wins.
Well, until this season.
Edgar Munaba dropped a game-high 26 points, while Joseph Chuma added 16 as the Oilers defeated the UCU Canons 85-54 on Friday at Lugogo to secure their most impressive victory of a tumultuous season.
Perhaps statement win would not be an inappropriate description of the result given the struggles of the Oilers, who traditionally just run over everybody in the National Basketball League (NBL).
In other words, the Oilers are ordinarily the platform for making statements, not the other way around.
Friday’s win, though, would have sent a reminder to the NBL that the Oilers will have something to say about the destination of the NBL championship, that the reports of their demise might have been exaggerated.
For one, they have started beefing up the squad, with Moses Maker returning to bolster a shaky front court. Maker dropped 13 points against UCU. Titus Lual is expected to be back for the playoffs, and who knows what other player surprises await?
UCU have now dropped two in a row and three of the last five, the excitement around their recent revival starting to wane. Alier Jongroor and Daniel Muganzi finished with 17 and 14 points respectively for the Canons, with stars Joel Kayira and Flore Dushime combining for six points.
UCU humbled the Oilers 79-62 last month but the reigning champions have now won two in a row and on the evidence of their latest display, a winning run for Andrew Tendo’s side would hardly be a surprise.
Meanwhile, Moses Mugisha dropped a game-high 19 points, while Ivan Muhwezi added 17 points for the Namuwongo Blazers in an 84-63 victory over the KIU Titans earlier today at Wandegeya.
Joel Lukoji and Peter Obleng scored 10 points apiece as the league-leading Namuwongo improved to 15-0. KIU fell to 2-14 and took another step closer to relegation. Daniel Odokonyero had a team-high 18 points for KIU, while Peter Akok and Hon Kwany dropped 15 and 14 points respectively.
Charles Saverino had 10 for KIU.