The 2025 FUBA Division One champions, the UMU Flames, had a perfect weekend, as they won not one, but two basketball games to get relief off the relegation pressure.

They defeated the UPDF Tomahawks 61-52 in a repeat of the 2025 FUBA Division One Finals to secure their first win of the season. The following day, they took down the Kampala Rockets in a 64-57 victory.

Coming into the weekend, the UMU Flames had lost all their 6 games in the NBL. At that point, many were already condemning them to relegation despite having played under 30% of their regular season games.

The two games of that weekend were very crucial because they both against teams that are also looked at as “relegation threatened.” Winning both would put them in a good spot as they would own the tiebreakers early in the season.

The game against UPDF was a very good fixture for them because this is a side they defeated 4-2 in the 2025 Division One finals. They had to approach it with a winning mentality and that is what they did.

After the first half, UMU Flames led the game 30-27. However, in the third quarter, UPDF looked the better team and outscored them 14-10 to take a 1-point lead.

The final five minutes of the fourth quarter is when the UMU Flames established themselves. They limited UPDF to just 4 points and scored 12 of their own to win the game 61-52.

Gatwech Kong and John Otuko each scored 12 points for UMU while Joshua Duallo finished with 9 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks.

The following day, the UMU Flames had to build on their win in order to get their season back on track. In order to do this, they had to start strong against the Kampala Rockets but that wasn’t the case.

They trailed 8-16 after the first quarter but the situation turned around in the second. Erjok Agot scored 10 points in the second period and UMU Flames cut the deficit to 3 points heading into the halftime break.

The momentum garnered in the second quarter by the UMU Flames carried forward into the third. They made a 15-1 run in the first 5 minutes to establish an 11-point lead. By the time the quarter ended, the Flames were up 48-38 and it was now their game to lose.

Kampala Rockets tried to launch and a comeback and everything was going according to plan. They limited UMU to just 4 points in the first 5 minutes of the final period and managed to cut the deficit to one point.

However, Erjok Agot was reintroduced and he tormented them. He scored 10 points in the final 5 minutes of the game to help UMU Flames secure a 64-57 win, their second of the season.

Agot finished with 32 points while Joshua Duallo had 7 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks. Toussaint Mampuya had 15 points, Puati Ozias 10 points, 17 rebounds, 6 assists and Christian Ndibu had 7 points and 13 rebounds for the Kampala Rockets.

UMU Flames now have the same number of wins as UPDF Tomahawks, JKL Dolphins and the Kampala Rockets.

They return to action on Wednesday 25th as they face the JT Jaguars at the Jaguars Den in Kira.