By: Nacho Black Armo
KIU put up a fight against defending champions Oilers in a master piece showdown of the NBL Men’s finals Game 2 but still lost with a 4 point deficit
Titans lost 72-76 and now they have a game of their lives in game 3 on 10th-January in which they have to answer the long standing question, how do you defeat Oilers ?.
Chris Basheke opened the scores for the sunday evening encounter with 2 points which were answered back immediately by Otim Jonah, but didn’t stop the University side to dominate play and scores closing the first period with a 14 point gap, 24-10.
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Drileba Tonny attempted a 2 pointer early in the 2nd quarter but it was Okello James who was successful in Oilers bid to comeback into the game with a 2 and a 3 pointer seconds after to make it 17-24 .
The defending champions narrowed the gap to 6 points going into half time with a 26-30 score.
However Oilers dominated the last 2 quarters scoring 29 points in the 3rd quarter as well as trying to tame Titans who scored 24 points in 3rd period hence going into the last quarter lagging a point behind Oilers who were leading 55-54.
Titans committed more fouls in the last quarter with Sudi Ulanga and Collin Jassujja fouling second after second which forced coach Brian Wathum to call for time out to regroup.
Titans showed all signs of coming back but Oilers were not letting their lead go under any circumstance with Ndikumana Landry, Okello James, Stephen Omony so fired up in the last minutes of the game.
This saw the defending Champions win it 76-72 with KIU Titans’ Sudi Ulanga scoring a maximum of 24 points and Chris Basheke scoring 16 while City Oilers’ Landry Ndikumana scored 21 points with 12 rebounds and Jimmy Enabu plating 6 assists.
“We shall do our best to win the next games” said coach Brian Wathum after the defeat.
Both Titans And oilers faceoff on Wednesday 10th at Lugogo Arena in a must win game for Titans while Oilers must only win 2 of the remaining fixtures to retain their championship.
