On the day on which they were announced as Uganda’s representative at the BAL 2026, the Namuwongo Blazers defeated the UCU Canons 73-58 to go up 2-0 in the series.

Earlier in the day, news came out that the Nam Blazers were unanimously chosen to represent Uganda at the Road to BAL.

With this, there was a lot of excitement from their fans and team also wanted to close the day with happiness.

The Blazers scored 28 points in the first quarter while scoring 5 3-point shots in the process.

Everything they did seemed to yield results but it is important to note that the Blazers passed the ball really well and they had 8 assists in the first quarter alone.

In the second, they switched off offensively. The Blazers scored just 7 points in the entire second quarter while UCU had 18 and they cut the deficit to 4 points.

Namuwongo led by as many as 12 points with under 3 minutes to play in the quarter.

The Canons turned up defensively and forced the Blazers into a couple of turnovers. They also closed the quarter with an 11-9 run including the buzzer beater by Flore Dushime to close the quarter.

With the difference just being 3 points ahead of the fourth quarter, a lot was expected of the Canons but they disappointed.

They did not score a point in almost 7 minutes in the fourth quarter and Namuwongo Blazers scored 18 unanswered points to take a 21-point lead.

In the end, the Blazers crowned the day with a 73-58 victory.

Player stats

Namuwongo Blazers

Joel Lukoji Banza 24 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl

Arthur Wanyoto 14 pts, 11 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 2 blk

James Okello 17 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast

UCU Canons

Jimmy Otim 12 pts, 4 reb

Joel Kayiira 8 pts, 15 reb, 2 ast

Ekirapa Zachariah 11 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast

The Namuwongo Blazers now lead the series 2-0 and will have a chance to close the series in their next game.

Game 3 will take place on Sunday at Lugogo Indoor Arena.