Basketball in Africa

Results – Friday
Warriors104-85Power
Power lead series 3-1
Div II:
Rhino85-80 Heaters
Rhino win series 3-0
Div III:
Stormers72-63 UCU JV
UCU JV lead series 2-1
Today at YMCA
Power v Warriors (7pm)

Kyambogo Warriors finally shed some skin on Friday night at YMCA Court, Wandegeya in the best-of-seven MTN-Fuba League finals following two weeks of toil against DMark Power.
Having taken the opening three games, Power knew just one more victory was enough to reclaim the title whereas Warriors stood on the brink of suffering a humiliating clean sweep.

The defending champions rose to the occasion to sweep away Power 104-85 in a rescheduled game after Wednesday’s rain thereby forcing game five at the same venue this evening.
So often, Abdullahi Ramadhan has needed support to lift Warriors from the hole they dug themselves into by squandering 17-point leads in each of the last two defeats.

And this time, Tanzanian guard made 17 points, including three out of seven three point attempts before being ejected late.
Company came in handy for Warriors to lessen the series gap to 1-3. Steven Okias popped up with 21 points, eight rebounds and nine assists while Ronnie Kasewu came up with figures of 19-7-7.

The trio helped Warriors edge the first period 24-21 before Power took the second 27-21. The stage was firmly set for another collapse.

This time, coach Gad Eteu played his cards well in negating the effect of Power’s full court press for his team to take the final two quarters 33-16 and 26-21 respectively.
“One game at a time,” a sanguine Jude Ochen said knowing that winning three straight games will take more error-free performances like this one. He too was clinical for his 13 points just as were the Malinga brothers, Eric (14) and Henry (12).

Power might need a quick psychological pinch as Norman Blick’s game high 29 points were only a drop in the ocean with Ben Komakech (16) and Isaac Afidra (10) the only ones to make double figures. Coach Bernice Nkunda might want to correct the three-point shooting fast. Warriors nailed seven of their 23 attempts in comparison to Power managing only a third of 21 efforts.