The KCCA Panthers defeated the City Oilers 68-57, on Monday 21st to hand them their 3rd loss in 4 games.

After losing their opening 2 games against the Namuwongo Blazers and the JT Jaguars, the City Oilers registered their first victory, 62-68 against the Rezlife Saints on Wednesday 16th.

It wasn’t an easy game, but they managed to grind out a result and many thought that was a turning point for them.

However, they were coming up against a KCCA Panthers team who had won their first 4 games but were humiliated by the Namuwongo Blazers in the previous game.

The Panthers needed to bounce back strong and winning against the defending champions was going to be a big statement and morale booster for them.

City Oilers led the game 27-19 after the first quarter and their efficiency was fairly high.

They scored 10/21, 47% FG with 3 3-pointers scored.

Fayed Baale scored 9 of the 27 points for the Oilers in the first quarter.

Davis Assimwe scored 8 for the Panthers and it was lovely to see how he composed himself to finish at the rim.

It was a very slow and sloppy second quarter for both teams, with a total of 19 points scored.

KCCA scored just 1 field in the first 5 minutes of the quarter but did well to defend and in the game.

They limited the Oilers to just 4 points in the final 5 minutes of the half.

City Oilers also registered 5 turnovers in that time, 3 of them being on the final 3 consecutive possessions.

The third quarter was the turning point for the KCCA Panthers as they took over the game.

The momentum and defense in the second quarter overflowed to the third but what changed was the offense for the Panthers.

KCCA scored 20 points, 7/17 from the field, with 2/4 from 3.

Most importantly, they limited the City Oilers to just 3 field goals and 9 points in the quarter.

The Oilers also registered 5 turnovers and KCCA scored 5 points from turnovers.

The Panthers had a 12-0 run in the third quarter that helped them take the lead.

In the first 5 minutes of the fourth quarter, both teams were trading baskets and the Panthers led the game 58-55 with 5 minutes left.

However, City Oilers offense went to sleep after that and KCCA took over.

The Oilers scored just 2 points in the final 5 minutes of the game.

KCCA scored 10 points in that time and sealed a 68-57 victory.

Talking Points

The main talking point in this game is the lack of help for Fayed on offense.

Fayed carried the team a lot but in the second half, the Panthers found a solution for him.

He was double teamed on multiple occasions which meant that his teammates had to step in but they never did.

In the final 5 minutes of the game, KCCA targeted him and he dished out the ball to his teammates on the perimeter but none could land anything.

City Oilers had 8 of their 12 attempts in the final 5 minutes, being 3-point shots none went in.

Secondly, the lack of scoring second chance points by the City Oilers.

The Oilers registered 27 offensive rebounds but only scored 12 second chance points.

On 5 occasions when City Oilers had picked an offensive rebound, they made a turnover. Those were very many missed opportunities and they were very wasteful.

Match Stats

KCCA Panthers

Davis Assimwe 13 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl

Toussaint Mampuya 13 pts, 11 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl

Caesar Kizito 11 pts, 9 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl

Stephen Otoa 12 pts, 2 ast, 4 blk, 1 stl

City Oilers

Fayed Baale 21 pts, 3 reb

Rogers Dauna 9 pts, 11 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl

Joseph Chuma 8 pts, 13 reb, 3 ast, 6 stl

Match Facts

This is the first time that City Oilers has had only 1 players score double digits in a game this season.

They also registered just 8 bench points, their lowest in the season.

Coach and player remarks

Coach Raymond Muhumuza was very elated after his side’s huge victory, he said;

“Its a good win after a tough loss on Friday (again Nam Blazers), we can build on this and see a way forward”

About the defensive adjustments, he had this to say;

“They scored 27 points in the first quarter and our defense wasn’t good. We had to go back to defense and cut out the shooters”

In the fourth quarter, the Panthers doubled it Fayed Baale and the coach affirmed that it was the team’s plan.

“Fayed is a special player. He is crafty, creative and can get guys in the game. We had to make him a little bit uncomfortable and it paid off”

Caesar Kizito was very excited and he had some thoughts on what this victory means to the KCCA Panthers.

“This win means everything. It puts us in conversations for title contenders”

Fayed Baale attributes their poor start of the season to the ‘lack of team chemistry’ but reassures that everything will be okay.

“We have a couple of new guys and haven’t studied how to play well with each other but we shall be fine”

He also commented on what went wrong offensively for them.

“We were rushing the offense, we failed to score, missed a couple of open lay ups and that costed us“

City Oilers has lost 3 of their 4 games to start the season and are tied with Sommet and Livingstone for the second lowest wins (1).

They return to action over the weekend with back-to-back games.

The Oilers take on the KIU Titans on Saturday 26th at UCU, Mukono and JKL Dolphins on Sunday at YMCA.

The KCCA Panthers bounced back after a huge humiliation against Namuwongo Blazers and now have a 5-1 record, the second-best in the league.

They return to action on Friday 25th against the JT Jaguars at Lugogo Indoor Arena.