The Namuwongo Blazers completed the double over the City Oilers after their 82-74 victory on Friday 18th at Lugogo.

With this loss, the cloud hovering over the City Oilers head pertaining their chances of making the playoffs became darker and this season’s misery continues.

One could wonder, what was this game about?

Well, for the City Oilers, it was about survival.

Fighting for their lives and also to motivate and encourage themselves that they still have a chance to win the league or even take down the ‘best’ team.

For the Namuwongo Blazers, it was something else. PRIDE!

And nothing can sum it up more than that moment after Tonny Drileba scored that 3.

With 1:18 left in the game, Tonny Drileba drilled a huge triple to make it a 9-point game and for most, this was the game winner.

He plunged the dagger right in the hearts of the City Oilers and i guess they bled Oil.

His celebration is what this game was about for the Nam Blazers.

He was fired up, punched the air, you could see the raw emotion.

One could tell that he had waited for this moment so bad and here it was.

He wanted to savor it and wanted to show the Oilers that he was still not happy with them.

For the Oilers faithful, they must have been telling themselves, one of our own is doing this to us but the reality is, he is no longer yours.

And he wanted to show you what you lost, that is what that celebration meant, atleast to me.

The game ended 82-74 and the Blazers fans were satisfied as more pain and misery had been inflicted on their rivals.

Coming into this game, the City Oilers had lost back-to-back games and it was foolhardy to think that they could get a victory against the Namuwongo Blazers.

Nonetheless, they put up a commendable fight but one thing was reaffirmed to us,

Their best is still not good enough.

There is a saying in sports that the better team always finds a way to win.

This is a subtle way of saying, the worse team always finds a way to lose and we also witnessed that in this game.

There is no doubt that the City Oilers performance superceded our expectations but they still found a way to lose.

They gave away 24 points from turnovers in the first half and missed 13 of 25 free throws.

The Namuwongo Blazers started the first quarter strong, opened with consecutive triples and took it 25-16.

The Oilers made 8 turnovers in the first period and surprisingly, 3 of them were on the inbound.

The Blazers capitalized with 12 points from turnovers and this put them in a good position.

Edgar Munaba was also terrorizing Namuwongo. He made numerous drives and finished with 10 points in the quarter.

In the second quarter, the City Oilers looked a much better side but still made a mess of themselves with the turnovers.

They took the ball to the basket, created some good shots, and managed to draw fouls.

City Oilers had 12 free throws attempts in the second quarter but missed 7 of those.

Additionally, they made 6 turnovers and Nam Blazers punished them with 12 points.

For all the good things the Oilers did in the second quarter, they had nothing to show for it.

It was like washing and hanging in the mud and this cost them in the end.

The City Oilers’ defense from the second quarter carried forward into the third and they made the Namuwongo Blazers work for everything.

Namuwongo registered 11 turnovers in the quarter but the Oilers scored only 4 points from turnovers.

They never utilized the opportunities that the Blazers gave them and this also cost them dearly.

City Oilers scored 4 3-point shots and at then end of the quarter, they were within one point.

The introduction of Benjamin Kawumi also changed the Oilers dimension offensively and made them better.

To start the fourth quarter, Malual Dier put the City Oilers ahead, for the first time in the game, after a 3-point shot.

There were a couple of lead changes with both teams trading buckets but after Namuwongo went up by 5, that was the end of the game.

The Oilers attempted a couple of 3-point shots but nothing was landing until Tonny Drileba finally finished them off.

Match Stats

Nam Blazers

Joel Lukoji 17 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl

Chukwurah Anthony 14 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk

Moses Mugisha 13 pts, 8 reb, 3 stl

Peter Obleng 11 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl

City Oilers

Edgar Munaba 25 pts, 4 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl

Fayed Baale 16 pts, 4 reb, 6 ast, 2 stl

Joseph Chuma 11 pts, 4 reb, 2 stl

The City Oilers have to win their final game of the season against the JKL Dolphins in order to qualify for the Playoffs.

Namuwongo Blazers have closed their regular season with a 19-3 record and will be waiting for their opponents in the playoffs.