In a must win game, the U16 Silverbacks managed to take care of business, bagging a a huge 73-53 victory against Guinea.

Coming into this game, the Junior Silverbacks had to defeat the defending champions Mali and it was going to be a tough game.

Both teams had yet to win a game and a win for either would have put them in 3rd place with a huge possibility of making the quarter-finals.

In their first 2 games, Uganda had played well and put up a fight. However, they had some problems when it came to scoring.

This is an area they needed to work on if they were to have a chance in this game.

After the opening quarter, Guinea led the game 18-11.

In the second, Uganda took it 14-11 to make it 29-25, heading into the halftime break.

The Silverbacks started making moves in the third quarter. The bench came in huge, Jordan Kayizzi and Shyaka Evans each scoring crucial baskets.

Most importantly, at the end of the quarter, Shane Kwizera buried a triple on the buzzer to give Uganda a 2-point lead.

The other surprising thing was, after missing their first 22 3-point shot attempts in the first 2 quarters, the boys scored 3 of 6 in the third.

This same energy carried through to the fourth quarter where they made 5 of 10 attempts.

The first 3 field goals of Uganda in the fourth quarter were all triples and this created some separation between them and Guinea.

They then went on a 17-0 run to make it a 19-point lead with 4:26 left in the game.

During that 17-0 run, Uganda was 7/11 from the field and this efficiency helped them finish off Guinea.

On of the key ingredients for Uganda winning was the offensive rebounds.

They picked 31 offensive boards, 11 more than Guinea and with this, they scored 21 second chance points.

Player Stats

Pierre Laurent Rwuhiriro 13 pts, 19 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk

Shane Kwizera 14 pts, 5 stl

Shammah Kwizera 14 ast, 10 reb, 3 stl

Lucas Ssenyonjo 13 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast

With this victory, Uganda finishes as  the number 3 team in their pool.

They have a chance to make it to the quarter-finals but some things have to fall into place for them.

If Rwanda lose against Cote d’Ivoire Uganda is through.

If they win, Uganda can also get through if, the winner between Morocco and Liberia doesn’t win by 32 or more points.

As things stand, Uganda has done enough to make it to the quarter-finals and are most likely to be there.