City Oilers grind out victory against Victoria Crocs

The City Oilers returned to winning ways after grinding out a 60-56 victory against Victoria Crocs on Wednesday 30th at Lugogo.

May 2, 2025

2–3 minutes

It was a hard-fought 60-56 victory for the City Oilers against Victoria University on Wednesday 30th at Lugogo.

With about 10 seconds left in the game, Victoria University had a chance to tie the game and possibly force overtime.

With under a minute to play, City Oilers led the game by 7 and most thought it was done and dusted.

However, Victoria made a 2 quick baskets and it became a 3-point game.

On the next Oilers possession, Ben Komakech is called for a travel and all of a sudden, there was life for Victoria as they had a chance to tie the game.

After a timeout, Cyrus Wobusobozi was fouled as he was trying to create.

The Crocs still had the possession and they made this very brilliant play.

A couple of screens were made and Cedric Alema was freed, with all the time in the world to make the shot and tie the game.

For a moment, the hearts of everyone in the arena were hanging in the air, and the Oilers, must have been thinking, here we go again.

The ball hit the iron and out it went, giving Oilers the possession and ultimately the victory.

Prior to this game, City Oilers had won just 2 of their 6 games, most recently a 64-62, loss against the JKL Dolphins.

Victoria Crocs had been on a 2-game losing streak and a win against a struggling City Oilers was a big opportunity to boost their morale.

The game was pound for pound, all the way from the start to the end.

The first quarter ended 15-13 with the University side in the lead but the Oilers managed to head into halftime on level terms, 29-29.

In the final 5 minutes of the third quarter, Victoria outscored the Oilers 11-4 to take a 2-point lead into the fourth quarter.

It was a very tight fourth quarter as the game was tied on 4 occasions.

However, in clutch time, Ben Komakech, Malual Dier and Fayed Baale scored huge baskets in an Oilers 7-0 run and this proved enough for them to secure the win.