Warriors at last break Falcons jinx

Nov 15, 2009

Warriors at last break Falcons jinx

MTN-FUBA PLAYOFF SEMIS
MTN-FUBA Playoff Semis
Men’s division 1:

Warriors 79 Falcons 62
(Warriors win best-of-five
Series 3-2)
Men’s division 2:
Berkley 75 Rhinos 74
(Berkley gain promotion to 1st
Division)


By Charles Mutebi

AT last! The Kyambogo Warriors have won a postseason series against the Mountain Dew Falcons and for that they can comfortably take their place in the playoff finals for this year’s FUBA men’s championship.

Gad Etau’s men put on a soldiers’ display to defeat the Falcons in the deciding game of their best-of-five semi-finals 79-62 and end a jinx that had threatened to remain intact.

The Falcons had beaten Kyambogo in the playoffs in the last two seasons but these Warriors decided to rewrite history with the kind of relentless performance they always fail to produce when it matters most.

And there was no Warrior more daring than Martin Okwako. The Kenyan forward gave his most important show in a Warriors shirt since joining the club early this season.
Okwako led the scoring with 22 points, massively helping his club to lead the game for almost its entire duration.

After losing the first quarter 18-13, the Falcons tied the match at 23 apiece halfway through the second quarter but that would remain the closest they came to taking the lead because it was all Warriors thereafter.

They won the second quarter 44-23, took the third by the same margin at 59-47 before eventually winning the contest by a convincing 17 points. They played a stifling defence, allowing the Falcons few clean looks and even fewer offensive rebounds.

And when they crossed the half, Okwako would be down on the post, primed to cause havoc. He was the main contributor to Falcons linchpin Steven Omony getting fouled out with 2mins 12secs to the end of the match.

Omony, who had picked three fouls before halftime, played at centre for the Falcons, were injured star-centre Henry Malinga would have been positioned. He was in valiant mood but his 18 points would not be enough to save the six-time champions.

Warriors take on D’Mark Power in the best-of-seven finals, starting Friday.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});