Oilers, KCCA settle for third as Urunani triumph in Zone V
City Oilers finished as the third best team in Zone V
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Ugandan sides will be even quicker to admit that they are not yet refined to that level. The two best performers - City Oilers and KCCA Leopards - finished third - the latter for a fourth tournament on the bounce.
Mombasa- Any team that wants to win the Fiba Africa Zone V Basketball Club Championship must beat Urunani.
That was a universal feeling at the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) center, Makupa gymnasium after Burundians successfully defended their regional crown on Sunday.
They beat hosts KPA 68-59 to quieten the crowd for a third title in four years on a fourth successive appearance in the final. Dominance!
Ugandan sides will be even quicker to admit that they are not yet refined to that level. The two best performers - City Oilers and KCCA Leopards - finished third - the latter for a fourth tournament on the bounce. Oilers held off Tiger Head Power 71-67 in an all-Ugandan third place playoff. Shooting guard Jimmy Enabu came alive from a weeklong slumber with 24 points to temporarily bury the 45-54 semifinal loss to Urunani. Kami Kabange had 21 and six rebounds for Oilers’ fifth straight win over Power.
“We will back here next year,” player/manager Grace Kwizera vowed, taking the lessons learned in Mombasa on debut. The two league finalists qualify for this annual tournament.
Power must hope for the same after their first tournament outside Uganda in over a decade.
Unlike the apprentice Oilers, KCCA knew how to pick themselves from the semifinal disappointment which happened 24 hours earlier.
Claire Lamunnu scored 34 points enroute a deserved individual top scorer’s accolade in 69-61 win over Burundi’s Berco Stars.
“Taking that next step remains very hard,” KCCA coach Timothy Oddke said. The 74-48 semifinal rout by eventual champions USIU of Kenya only emphasized that that “step” is high.
