City Oilers fall with sweet taste in mouth
After winning the league, City Oilers win play at the Basketball Africa League again. PHOTO/JOHN BATANUDDE
What you need to know:
The Oilers lost the final 70-68 to South Africa's Cape Town Tigers but having already booked a ticket among the continent’s best for Season Four of the BAL with a convincing 72-61 win over the Burundian champions Dynamo in the semifinal, the final defeat hardly pricked a pore in the skin.
Ugandan champions City Oilers failed to put the icing on their Basketball Africa (Bal) qualifiers cake on Sunday but left the court with a sweet taste in the mouth even in that defeat.
The Oilers lost the final 70-68 to South Africa's Cape Town Tigers but having already booked a ticket among the continent’s best for Season Four of the BAL with a convincing 72-61 win over the Burundian champions Dynamo in the semifinal, the final defeat hardly pricked a pore in the skin.
“It has been a good championship. We came here with a target and achieving it was the most important part and I am happy we got that done,” centre Brandon Sebirumbi said after the final.
“We have a special group of players who are ready to fight for the brand and I expect that we will work hard to have a successful run in the BAL next year,” he added.
The Oilders allowed Malian guard Cartier Ducati Diarra all the time in the world to pull up and nail a shot that gave the South Africans a two-point lead (70-68) with less than a second left on the clock.
There was no coming back for the Oilers as the home team ensured the Qualifiers title remained in South Africa for a year running.
Germaine Roebuck Jr. led Oilers with 19 points while Sebirumbi recorded a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Parrish Petty was the other Oilers player to score in double figures with 14 points.
Meanwhile, Burundi’s Dynamo, led by former UCU Canons forward David Deng, defeated Madagascar’s COSPN 79-78 Sunday evening to secure the last ticket to the club championship in Kigali.
Dynamo became the third East African side to join the fray, alongside Rwandan champions APR -- who have an automatic ticket -- and City Oilers, who finished second in the Division East Elite 16.
It is the first time a team from Burundi is qualifying for the continent’s elite competition since its inception.
For the Oilers, focus will now turn to next year, with the National Basketball League expected to start in January and the BAL season tipping off in February.
