2 minutes into the third quarter, the Namuwongo Blazers held a 24-point lead, the highest in the game. 13 minutes later, their lead had vanished and the KCCA Panthers trailed by only a single point.
KCCA Panthers came into the game on the back of a 1-point victory against Power after Okumu Demunu scored the winner with 18 seconds left.
The Namuwongo Blazers on the other hand had been perfect in the second round but had trailed at half time in each if their 4 second round games.
After blowing out the KCCA Panthers 25-9 in the first quarter, the Blazers were on their way to changing their second-round story. They increased their lead to 21 points at halftime and they were cruising to victory, or so it seemed.
The KCCA Panthers never gave up and they had a 9-0 run in the third quarter to make it a 12-point game. They were oozing with confidence and made it a 9-point game at the start of the fourth quarter. Innocent Ochera cut their momentum short with successive 3-point shots but that fueled the KCCA Panthers even more.
The Panthers went on 14-0 run in the next 3 minutes, and it was a 1-point game, the KCCA Panthers with the momentum. The game went back and forth, and it was a 2-point game with 1:19 left but the KCCA Panthers made a couple of costly mistakes and never recovered thus letting Namuwongo Blazers off the hook.
Talking points
The Namuwongo Blazers did very well to see out this victory despite almost blowing away a 24-point lead. For their first 4 games in round 2, they trailed at halftime but came out with a victory. It wasn’t the case against KCCA, they led the game and they became the prey. How they handled themselves in the final 15 minutes is not a sight that a fan or a coach would want because on any other given day, the result could have been otherwise.
Winning tough is good, but as a contender, you have to exact dominance on your opponents and despite that being the case in the first half, the second was disastrous (for Blazers standards) and they need to figure out a way to dominate from start to finish.
KCCA Panthers did a solid job of keeping positive and staying in the game. Despite the loss, they will have a lot of positives to pick up and improve as the season progresses.
The Panthers have been terrific at drawing fouls and they utilized it to their advantage. They had 39 trips to the free throw line but their conversion let them down alot as they only scored 22.
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Match Stats
KCCA Panthers
Gaius Mahamba 19 pts, 8 rebs, 7 ast, 3stl
Davis Asiimwe 25 pts, 3 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl
Nam Blazers
Innocent Ochera 16 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl
Daniel Gaaki 11 pts, 6 reb, 10 ast, 4 stl
Michael Makiadi 10 pts, 14 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk
Joseph Chuma 22 pts, 15 rebs, 1 ast, 2 stl, 2 blk
Wadaya Blair 27 pts, 4 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl
Match Facts
Nam Blazers became the second team (men) to score 50 points by half time. They also became the third team (men) to have scored 90+ points in a gamee this season.
Daniel Gaaki became the second player (men) to register 10+ assists in a game this season.
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