Basketball in Africa

Riham Warriors turned a meeting of the NBL giants into a mismatch. Behind crisp ball movement and valorous attacking of the hoop, Warriors put an end to Dmark Power’s unbeaten run with a 91-65 blowout victory.

“Our aim was to kill their pace and we managed to do that” Warriors’ coach, Emmanuel Samanya said

Henry Malinga dropped season high 28 points and picked 6 rebounds as Warriors (8-2) pinned a 26 point loss to Power - the worst in recent history. Point guard, Ivan Enabu added 19 points, 7 rebounds, swiped 5 steals and swatted 4 shots.

“We stuck to our game plan – to work as a team both defensively and offensively and thank God we got the win” Enabu said.

Warriors started slow and trailed through the first half. With Power leading 34-32 going into the third quarter, guard, Mark Opio (13 points) opened the period with back-to-back 3-pointers to take Warriors into the lead and the defending champions did not trail again. Warriors pushed their lead into double figures with 2:17 in the third and did not relinquish it.

Norman Blick led Power (10-1) with 16 points and Joseph Ikong added 11 points. Isaac Afidra was a contrast of who he was a week ago. The forward scored 8 points and pulled down 7 rebounds. “They needed it more - that is all” he said

Ronnie Kasewu picked game high 11 rebounds to go with 9 points as Warriors won the battle on the glass 50-42 with a whooping 19 on the offensive glass. Warriors complete their first round schedule on Wednesday against Ndejje Angels.

In the women’s division, UCU Lady Canons used an overwhelming second half to beat KCCA Leopards 70-54. Shooting guard, Moreen Amoding turned in a third consecutive big performance with co-game high 24 points. Purity Adhiambo added 18 points and 11 rebounds as Lady Canons snapped KCCA’s winning streak to stay unbeaten. Francis Nabulobi contributed 11 points and 8 rebounds

Flavia Oketcho did everything for Leopards (10-1) in a losing effort as she received little help from her teammates. The guard scored 24 points and picked 7 rebounds. KCCA’s leading scorer, Claire Lamunu had a poor night missing many mostly easy field goal attempts. The forward picked 12 rebounds and scored 10 points going 4-for-17 from the field.