Wednesday, September 14
•KIU Rangers 76-85 UCU Lady Canons (0-2)
•City Oilers 72-61 UCU Canons (2-0)
City Oilers put a foot into this year’s NBL finals after a deserved 72-61 win over UCU Canons on a cold Wednesday at YMCA court in Wandegeya.
Fayed Baale poured in a team high 20 points and added five rebounds but the point guard lacked enough support from teammates as UCU failed to tie the series.
Jerry Kayanga was 0-for-6 from three, Fadhil Chuma failed to trouble the scorers with 0 points, Sudi Ulanga had 2 points while Titus Lual had 8 points on a night he could have done better.
And the Canons find themselves 2-0 down in the best of five semifinals series.
The Oilers will seal a place in the finals for an eighth consecutive time if they win game three on Sunday.
And it’s hard to see them fail on that mission after another disciplined show on Wednesday led by Nigerian Francis Azolibe who exploded with 11 of his overall 20 points coming in the third quarter.
Peter Sifuma had a double double of 15 points and 13 rebounds while Ibanda Lwabaga was the other UCU player to score (10) in double figures, but the rest of the squad struggled to cope up for extended stretches.
City Oilers, as it was in game one, started like a house on fire, leading 18-9 after the first quarter, and they maintained that grip on the lead until the final buzzer.
UCU coach Nicholas Natuhereza was very animated throughout on the touchline, and had an exchange with referee Peter Kirabo at the final buzzer in protest to a couple of his officiating calls on the night.
But he is now well aware of how deep a hole they have dug themselves as they now need to win all the remaining three games if they are to advance to the finals.
They made 30 turnovers, missed 22 of their 26 attempts from three and also failed to contest a couple of Oilers shots on a night they want to forget easily.
