When asked if KCCA Panthers had turned a corner, coach Raymond Muhumuza responded,

“You can never turn a corner in the NBL, it’s a competitive league and it’s all about one step a time, taking one game at a time”

The KCCA Panthers have won 2 in a row for the first time this season and there’s seems to be some happiness in the camp after that horrible start where they lost 2 games in a row against JKL Dolphins and Nam Blazers.

The Panthers played the Kampala Rockets and despite both sides going toe to toe in the first quarter, the Panthers blew out the Rockets (23:10) in the second  and established a 14 point lead heading into half time.

The Rockets put up a fight in the third bringing it to 8 points but KCCA ran riot in the final period putting the game to sleep, 75:57 the Full Time score.

It was an overall team performance, scores from all over  even the bench coming up with 35 points.

Coach Raymond Muhumuza attributed the victory to the team’s effort on defense.

“Our defense is improving, though we still have some lapses. Credit to our defense”.

Despite continued top performance by Puati Ozias Kikomba, the Kampala Rockets are yet to find a winning formula.

His supporting cast, Ola simon (2), Francis Kasinde (3) and John Dombo (5) all had poor nights offensively and that makes it very hard for them to win. The inconsistency on the offensive end has been happening all season and the coaches are yet to find a solution to the problems.

“The game was good by we missed a lot, we missed a couple of  baskets that would have given us an upper hand and that’s where those guys (KCCA) beat us from” Coach Maurice said.

He went ahead to comment on some of the issues his side is facing.

“It’s a psychological thing, usually when people are losing, that things comes in, you want to make baskets for the team, you want to catch up, in the process you make rushed decisions and you’re punished for that”.

About their plans going forward, he said,  “we are going to focus on so many things, like our defense has worked out, it has improved our set up structure. We are going to work on our man to man”.

The KCCA Panthers play Ndejje Angels in their next fixture on 25th Feb while  Kampala Rockets return to action on 24th against Power.

Match Stats

KCCA

Okumu Demunu Emmanuel 10 pts, 7 reb

Aaron Trevour Ojoo 11 pts, 7 reb

Emmanuel Odong 15 pts, 8 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl

Gaius Mahamba 12 pts, 10 reb, 3 stl

Kampala Rockets

Puati Ozias Kikomba 20 pts, 18 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl, 3 blk

Chris Shamamba 13 pts, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl

Suka Fadul 12 pts, 9 reb, 1 stl, 1 blk