It was an emotional roller-coaster for both sets of fans, even the neutrals, in the final minute of the game 3 of the Men NBL final.
Tension, anxiety, jitteriness, excitement, disappointment, optimism, sadness, happiness, discontent, joy were at full display as both teams had an opportunity to win the game but the KIU Titans had the last laugh.
With 51 seconds on the clock, the Titans took a 1 point lead after Amisi Saidi buried both free throws. The Oilers were unable to score on their possession and Isaiah Ater got a steal for the Titans.
Amisi Saidi was sent to the free throw line once again and hand a chance to make it a 3 point difference but he unfortunately missed 1, making it a 2 point game.
The Oilers made yet another turnover with 16 seconds left. After a timeout, the KIU Titans also made a turnover on the inbound and gave the Oilers possession with 14 seconds left.
The Oilers called a timeout of their own and tried to work out a play, fortunately for the Titans, the umpire judged that Jimmy Enabu made a travel and thus the Titans got possession and ended up with the victory.
The last minutes will be the talk of town, but there’s many a lot to be discussed in regards to this game.
After losing out narrowly in game 2, the Titans seemed to have found some solutions to their problems.
Their ability to stay in the game is very commendable. After the Oilers made it a 10 point game, you could see the fight from the Titans. The coach made multiple rotations and whichever player was on the floor, you could see that they wanted to play. Matter of fact, every player of the KIU Titans put points on the board.
Joseph Chuma was the game changer in the game. With just 18 minutes played, he posted 11 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals and 4 blocks.
His biggest impact came in the second quarter when he made 3 blocks and 3 steals. The Oilers offense started to avoid the paint due to his presence and thus forcing the Oilers to shoot from distance.
Just like in our previous article, we talked about game awareness by both the players and the Coach. The Coach Isaac Lutwama made do many rotations, playing different combinations according to what he wanted and it finally paid off.
In game 2, the Oilers had only 4 fouls in the entire first half but things changed for them on the second. The Titans offense continued with the same script they used in the second half of game 2. They attacked the paint multiple times and as a result were sent to the free throw line a whooping 29 times.
For the City Oilers, it was just a bad day in office. The 3-point shooting was very off 4/20, and contributions from the bench wasn’t as much.
Ruai Luak and Ivan Muhwezi who always put up decent scores had 0 points. Fayed Baale was once again quieted, he only managed 5 points in 21 minutes.
Stats
James Okello 17 pts, 8 rebs
Titus Lual 12 pts, 11 rebs, 2 ast
Jimmy Enabu 11 pts, 1 reb, 2 ast
Ochera Innocent 18 pts, 2 rebs
Chuma Joseph 11 pts, 9 rebs, 1 ast, 3 stls, 4 blk
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