Basketball in Africa

Jimmy Enabu scored 9 of his 14 points and Joseph Ikong added 8 of his game high 18 points in the final quarter to lead Dmark Power to a 79-75 win over Falcons on Friday night at YMCA.
Power (16-5) took the opening period 23-16 but Falcons (18-3) won the second with a similar margin to go into half time tied at 34. Philp Ameny (16 points, 11 rebounds) scored half of Falcons’ third quarter points as the league leaders took a 50-46 lead to the
final quarter.
Big man, Isaac Afidra (11 points) opened the final period for Power with a long range jumper as the teams matched shot-for-shot and game was tied at 60 with 6:38. A 3-pointer from Steven Omony (10 points, 8 rebounds) and two throws from Philp Ameny took Falcons up by 5 however a non-contested shot from Ikong and a lay-up from Enabu brought Power within 2 and Ben Komakech (13 points, 10 assists) hit a go-ahead trey with 4:37.
Abdulrahim Ramadhan restored Falcons lead but didn’t last as Komakech put the defending champions back in the lead on the next possession and two foul shots from Ikong plus a roll-in from Enabu took Power 74-69 up with 2:37. Falcons came within 75-77, 1:02 to the final buzzer but an open court dunk from Ikong 26 seconds later was the final dagger that finished off the Falcons as Omony and Ramadhan’s game tying mid-range shots had attracted steel.
Power were edged out on the boards 37-36 but limited themselves to 16 turnovers compared to falcons’ 20. Point guard, Geoffrey Omondi was ejected with 3:18 in the third quarter and will miss Falcons’ last game of the regular season against KIU Titans.
If the loss surprised anyone, certainly it was not Falcons coach, Gad Eteu. “We respect those guys a lot. Plus they are defending champions. They have a very good way of responding to challenges”, he said before the game.
In the women’s division, KCCA Leopard’s guard, Flavia Oketcho had an explosive game dropping 29 points in the 73-51 blow-out victory over KIU Rangers. Jackie basemera and Martha Soigi contributed 10 and 11 points respectively for Leopards. Florence Nanyonga led Rangers with 17 points and 16 boards. Judith Nansobya added 13 points.