The Nkumba Marines are the most in-form team in Division One as they made it 9 consecutive victories in round 2, after their 50-45 win against Watoto on Wednesday 2nd October at YMCA.

The Marines lost 7 games in round one and have been on a mission to correct the wrongs and so far, they have done exceptionally well.

After their big win against UMU Flames, Nkumba came into the game against Watoto as the heavy favorites, but it was a tough first half given the way that Watoto played defensively.

The first quarter was very low scoring with a combined 13 from both teams but in the second, Watoto looked the better side.

Watoto scored 4 3-point shots and a couple of layups in the second quarter and they took a 10-point lead into the halftime break.

They also made it very difficult for the big men of Nkumba  to go to work in the interior and as a result, Nkumba opted to try from distance.

They missed all their 6 attempted 3-point shots but managed to make some layups in transition and they kept themselves in the game.

The third quarter was the defining moment of the game as Nkumba Marines played harder defensively, collected almost every rebound and then applied quick transition.

In the fourth, once again the size disparity was the key for Nkumba.

They played very hard defensively and in the first 4 minutes, Watoto did not have a Field Goal and scored just one point.

Despite that, Watoto was also playing well defensively and Nkumba was getting a lot of rebounds and thus more opportunities to score.

Both teams were going at it in the final minutes but Nkumba managed to see out the game and won 50-45.

Coach’s reaction.

Watoto’s head coach Jonathan Egau weighed in on how the game went for his side.

“We had a game plan which worked for us very well in the first half. In the second half, we did not execute the game plan very well and that’s where we lost that game”

He also talked about their plan in case they face another team with length similar to Nkumba.

“We’ll still go amd prepare and make sure that if we play a team that has length, we’ll make surw that everytime the shot is taken, we box out. There’s no shortcut to that”

Match Stats

Nkumba Marines

Moses Mandira 16 pts, 27 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 5 blk

Noah Tumusiime 13 pts, 9 reb, 1 stl

Matiok Nhail 10 pts, 12 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk

Watoto

Mark Mayanja 14 pts, 4 reb, 4 stl

Muganzi Daniel 9 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast

Moses Kukiriza 8 pts, 1 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl

Facts

Moses Mandira has picked 25+ rebounds in back-to-back games. 27 vs Watoto and 26 vs UMU Flames.

Nkumba shall take a rest this following weekend and will return to action on 12th October against UPDF at Entebbe Club Court.

Watoto will have back-to-back games this weekend, against Kampala University on Saturday 5th at Nakasero and Sommet on Sunday 6th YMCA.