UMU Flames survived relegation from the National Basketball League after a hard-fought 73-70 victory over JT Jaguars in a must win game. The Flames needed to win their game and hope for the JKL Dolphins to lose to the Rezlife Saints and that is exactly how it played out.

The Flames came out firing in the opening quarter, putting on an impressive offensive display to score 28 points and take control of the game early. The teams went band for band in the first minutes but UMU made a 17-2 run to establish a 17-point lead with 2:24 left in the quarter. The Jaguars snapped the Flames run and closed the quarter on a 7-1 run to ed the quarter 28-17.

In the second quarter, the JT Jaguars improved their performance on both ends of the floor in an attempt to cut the deficit. However, UMU Flames remained composed and finished the half strongly, maintaining an 11-point advantage heading into the break. Malok Marol came up huge for the Flames as he dropped 9 points and 4 rebounds in the quarter.

The third quarter saw the Jaguars mount a comeback as they stepped up the intensity. They started the quarter with 8 unanswered points and by the end of the quarter, they were down by just 2 points. UMU was very careless as they registered 10 turnovers in the quarter and despite attempting 6 free throws, they made none. The pressure had started to get to them.

The game was end to end in the final quarter. JT Jaguars took the lead early in the forth quarter but with under 3 minutes to play, UMU made a 7-0 run and that was enough for them to secure the win. The Jaguars had a couple of late 3-point shot attempts but only sunk one and the Flames secured a 73-70 victory.

Surviving relegation

With this victory, the UMU Flames survived relegation given the fact that the JKL Dolphins lost their game to the Rezlife Saints. UMU and JKL are tied on 6-16 but given that they own the tiebreaker, they go ahead of them. The UPDF Tomahawks must win their game in order to not only survive relegation but also make the playoffs. If they win, the JKL Dolphins will get relegated.

Player Stats

UMU Flames

Gatwech Kong 18 pts, 10 reb, 6 ast, 2 stl

Joshua Duallo 20 pts, 11 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl

Malok Marol 13 pts, 13 reb, 2 stl, 2 blk

JT Jaguars

Ian Lubwama 22 pts, 8 reb, 3 stl

Peter Sifuma 10 pts, 9 reb, 2 ast

George Odeke 11 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast

The JT Jaguars have finished their season with a 7-15 record. This is a significant drop off from the 15-7 that they had in the 2025 NBL regular season.