Stanbic Warriors' coach, Ronnie Mutebi said his team was not at it's best on Sunday night, but Ivan Enabu stepped off the bench and helped them find a way to win. The KIU Titans haven’t done that since the 77-76 edge of Sharing in regualrs season back in September.
Enabu scored 7 of his team high 20 points in the final three minutes to help Warriors beat Titans 74-69 to take Game 1 of the best-of-three series at YMCA.
Warriors got off a 21-18 first quarter, and over matched KIU 20-15 in the second to got into the half time break up 41-34 thanks to a consistent offense from the entire cast.
The 2012 champions outscored KIU in the third 21-18 and went into the decisive fourth quarter leading by 10 points.
KIU then stepped up their defense in the fourth quarter as they switched to a full court press holding Warriors scoreless from the field for nearly five minutes as the rallied to close the gap and went a head 64-63 on Geofrey Soro's lay up with 5:47.
With 2:45, Enabu was thrown back on court in the place of Jude Ochen, and the guard made Warriors' next 5 points and made an important block on Sam Agutu's attempt from down town. Warriors led 71-66 with 1:27 when Soro fouled out and all was nothing but done.
Soro netted game high 23 points and picked 7 rebounds for KIU in a losing effort. Francs Sokoroza contributed 12 points and Henry Malinga added 11.
To coach Hamza Nyambogo's disappointment, Norman Blick's struggles continued as the winger scored a mere 2 points in 20 minutes.
Game 2 of the series will be on Friday, November 6 at YMCA.
