Good Friday
*UCU Lady Canons 78-73 KCCA Leopards
*JKL Lady Dolphins 70-49 KIU Rangers
*Power 60-63 Nam Blazers
*City Oilers 87-64 UCU Canons
Saturday, April 8 (Lugogo)
•Kampala University Vs A1 Challenge
•Nabisunsa Vs JT Lady Jaguars
•Kampala Rockets Vs KCCA Panthers
•Rezlife Saints Vs Our Saviour
•KIU Titans Vs UPDF Tomahawks
Tonny Drilleba made his first appearance this season as City Oilers continued to exert their dominance in the NBL with a routine win over UCU Canons.
The shooting guard, arguably Oilers’ best player last season after averaging 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists per game, had missed the team’s opening six games with an injury.
On Friday, he came on six minutes into the first quarter, with Fayed Bbaale paving way after picking an injury that sidelined him for the rest of the game.
Drilleba who played 16 minutes, may have not impacted the game as he would have wanted after weighing in with 6 points, but his return is music to ears for the Oilers fans and Coach Mande Juruni.
Titus Lual who was facing his former side, was in no-forgiving mode and scored a double double of 21 points and 15 rebounds.
Luak Ruai was 7-for-15 from the field to notch a game high 22 points while Michael Ngut contributed 18 points, 16 of which from the range.
Peter Sifuma (13), Rogers Dauna JohnBaptist (13) and Jim Otim (12) scored in double digits but in vain for the Canons.
The Canons were promising right from the start and led the first quarter 18-17, and were down by just eight after the third.
But will feel guilty of a poor fourth quarter where they were outscored 22-07 to slump to their second loss of the season.
Oilers closed out the game with a 13-0 run, as the Canons shot 0-for-9 from the field in the same period Abraham Isyagi missed his two free-throws to highlight the team’s misery.
Coach Nicholas Natuhereza will try to pick some positives from the performance, including rebounding the Oilers 61-55 and making more steals 8-5 on the night.
But the team lacked enough support from the bench than contributed just 9 against Oilers’ 34 which speaks volumes about Mande Juruni’s deep roster.
