Just when you thought the Oilers couldn’t sink any deeper, they hit rock bottom.

The JT Jaguars completed the double over the 10-time champions after a 65-50 victory on Friday 11th at Lugogo.

After scoring 100+ in their previous game, many thought that the City Oilers would be good enough to avenge their round one defeat but boy oh boy did they suck.

A lot happened in this game but this was a reminder of how BAD the City Oilers have been this season  and that the recent wins have been nothing but a smokescreen.

In order for you to understand how his game went, all you had to do was see the reactions of Hajji Santur all through the game.

He went through different motions in this game and i could compare it to the stages of grief.

A lot of the first half, you could see he couldn’t believe how bad they were.

There was a bit of anger and frustration (at players, officials calls), at some point he had his head in his hands and most of the fourth quarter, he had accepted.

He wasn’t the usual animated person that we usually see and clearly, he had been drained of his energy due to the lackluster performance.

Before I proceed, allow talk about the officiation for a moment.

I feel like the referees did not do a very good job when you think about the fact that they are regarded as some of the best in the country.

There are multiple incidents when you feel the referee had made a wrong call but for some reason, they wouldn’t correct each other.

I would like to believe that the other referees would also see something else but we weren’t seeing them discussing and making a decision.

I feel like had they discussed things over, maybe they wouldn’t have corrected some but the fact that they didn’t, and went ahead with some contentious calls, they looked bad.

All I can say is, the referees need to go back and watch the game and I’m sure that they will find very many errors and if this was a close game, the situation would have gotten out of hand.

That’s it about referees, as it’s not what we are here for. The main subject is Jaguars disciplining the Oilers. Again!

In the first round, the  JT Jaguars defense was the key to their victory.  They applied a lot of pressure on the guards and forced them into mistakes which they capitalized heavily on.

This time around, the pressure was not that much but the Jaguars did well on 1v1 and made it very difficult for the Oilers to get off shots.

Another thing is, it’s a though City Oilers’ players got confused. The turnovers they committed were unbelievable and a good number of them were unforced.

You have been wondering, why do I say that City Oilers were clueless?

Well, the paragraph above best explains things, the Oilers got confused.

The defending champions rely a lot of shots and this time around, the shots weren’t dropping.

In the first quarter, they scored just 2 of 11 shots outside the paint.

In the second, they scored  1 of 10 attempts outside the paint.

In the third, they had 1/10 with 0/6 from the 3-point line and finally in the fourth quarter, they had 2 of 6 from outside the paint.

That was 6/37, 16 % and 3/20, 15% from the 3-point line.

For the defending champions, such kind of performance is atrocious and unacceptable.

It was a though they never had plan B.

The best way for the Oilers to score was to try and get some easy baskets around the rim but they failed and failed miserably.

The Jaguars had them defensively and these guys were clueless about what to do next.

They were so frustrated and kept turning the ball over. 10 turnovers in the fourth quarter alone says it all.

Clearly, they missed the presence of Ben Komakech. A lot!

On the flip side, the Jaguars were enjoying themselves.

They hit some good timely shots, the most memorable one behind the deep contested 3 by Fadhili Chuma as the shot clock was expiring just before halftime.

Defensively they were sound. The 1v1 was good and they played as a unit a lot and that was key.

The help defense was key for the Jaguars and they tried to close the driving lanes.

For a period in the first half, the Jaguars made a 7-0 run to take a 10-point lead but as the quarter closed, they led 18-12.

The Oilers were poor in the second quarter and the missed 6 of 9 freethrows say it all.

The game was always close but they kept missing and just before the break, Fadhili Chuma made it a 10-point game with an unbelievable well contested 3-point shot as the shot clock was expiring.

In thr third, the JT Jaguars did extremely well to maintain a double digit cushion and as the quarter closed, they led 49-37.

Aaron Eboyu hit a huge triple and a layup late in the quarter to keep the Jaguars with a safe lead.

In the fourth quarter, JT scored the first 2 baskets to make it a 17-point game and at this point, it was game over.

There was surely no way back for the City Oilers and those 10 turnovers in the fourth is a testament to how frustrated they were.

Match Stats

JT Jaguars

Chuma Fadhili 13 pts, 4 reb, 4 ast, 4 stl, 1 blk

Were Mark 11 pts, 2 ast, 2 stl

Aaron Eboyu 11 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast

Peter Sifuma 8 pts, 16 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 2 blk

City Oilers

Joseph Chuma 11 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 3 blk

Benjamin Kawumi 9 pts, 8 reb

Between number 2 and 7, it is undetermined where which team will finish.

The Oilers have an 11-8 record and they take on the Victoria Crocs next on  Wednesday 16th at YMCA.

The JT Jaguars also have an 11-8 record and return to action on Sunday 20th against the Kampala Rockets.