Power batter City Oilers to draw first blood in best-of-7 final
Joseph Ikong was one of the Power players who stood out on a night when five-time defending champions Oilers were taken to the cleaners. PHOTO BY ISMAIL KEZAALA
KAMPALA- Victory in game one of a best-of-seven playoff finals series does not win you the title. The situation does not differ much in game two as well.
What those two games do, however, is create seeds of doubt in your opponent that can help you win that title.
That is the situation Betway Power want to create when they meet City Oilers in game two of their Tusker Lite sponsored best of seven playoff final series at Lugogo MTN Arena.
Power have a one game lead after Wednesday’s blowout 85-66 win over the Oilers. Led by Joseph Ikong with a game high 24 points, Power were dominant right from tipoff taking a 17-9 first quarter lead that they never relinquished throughout.
“It was a good game for Power but this doesn’t mean anything really in basketball. I’ll give you examples in 2009 we led Warriors 3-0 and they came back to win, in 2010 they led by three and we came back to win,” Power’s Ikong warned.
They, however, showed the necessary character needed to hold off the Oilers who drew level on five titles with Power after winning the last five league titles.
Using a 30-24 third quarter run Oilers had cut down what was a 25 point deficit to 68-60 at the end of the third quarter with Josh Johnson scoring 12 of his 13 points in the period on a night of 3-of-5 shooting from three point range. But Paul Odong scored back to back threes and Power responded with a 7-0 start in the fourth quarter to see out the game as Oilers scored only six points in the final period.
The latter also had Jimmy Enabu top score with 15 points for the dismal Oilers.
However, it is Power who will again be out to prove if they can match game one’s performance with the Oilers having never lost a playoff series in the top division.
