Basketball in Africa

Sunday results
Warriors 65-71 Power
Women: A1 55-65 UCU
(Power, UCU lead series 2-0)
Rhino 85-61 Heaters
Stormers 70-71 UCU JV
(Rhinos, UCU JV lead series 1-0)
Third place play-off
Falcons 67-87 UCU
Women: KIU 71-85 KCC
Div II: MBC w/o Gulu
Div III: Kings w/o Crane

Joseph Ikong has had such a quiet post-season in the MTN-Fuba League that his contributions in the past for DMark Power were easily fading fast.

He desperately needed to pick himself from a ditch. He did that perfectly with a game-high 20 points as Power erased a 17-point third quarter deficit to defeat Kyambogo Warriors 71-65 on Sunday night. The importance of his contribution is underlined in the fact that his resurrection gave Power a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven final series. “Everyone has accused me of not playing defence so I agreed with my coach (Bernice Nkunda) to work on that part yet fans want me to score,” Ikong told Daily Monitor following a post-match meeting and prayer.
That prayer ended in screams of Power Power Power! In stark contrast, Warriors, who are two games away from relinquishing their crown, had a lengthy near-crisis summit in the cold. The defending champions led the first two quarters 20-10 and 14-17 respectively. At this point, Abdullahi Ramadhan was almost showboating on his way to 14 points, five rebounds and seven assists.

Nkunda responded by introducing guard Richard Balemwa to restrict the Tanzanian. He not only neutralised Dulah but also made figures of 4-4-3. Reigning MVP Ronnie Kasewu made 16 points but his Warriors were overwhelmed by Power’s late full court press.

Earlier, UCU Lady Canons booked a 65-55 victory over A1 Challenge in the women’s final. The latter had confined the 2008 champions to one point in the first quarter which ended 14-1. They stretched this to a 22-point lead at the start of the third before tables turned drastically. Lorraine Akinyi came up big to score 14 points. Anastasia Njeri (14) and Maureen Amoding (13) produced support to contain a charged Liz Baziira (14-9).