City Oilers in control

City Oilers are cruising in the National Basketball League finals following a 72-66 victory over KIU Titans in Game Two Sunday night at YMCA.

The win means that the Oilers now lead the seven-game series and can complete a ninth straight championship with a couple more victories this week.

The champions proved to be the more composed down the stretch and executed their plays to leave KIU with more questions than answers in the end. 

By taking the first quarter 19-12 and losing the second 19-18, Mandy Juruni’s charges carried a five-point advantage into the halftime break and looked like a team in control. 

The Titans bounced back with a 21-13 response in the third frame and carried a four-point advantage in the fourth before Oilers’ experience came to the fore to complete the job.

Big threes from Ruai Luak and Jimmy Enabu sucked the life out of KIU to decide the contest and edge closer to the title. 

Titus Lual scored a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds while Luak and James Okello added 14 and 11 points respectively.

KIU’s performance was highlighted by a rushed offence which was suffocated by Oilers’ defence when the stakes were high.

Amisi Saidi contributed 25 points and nine rebounds while Collins Kasujja got 12 points and seven rebounds.

The Kansanga outfit continued to find the going tough beyond the three-point line, converting just three of their 24 attempts. 

The two sides will face off in Game Three on Wednesday, with KIU fighting to avoid going 3-0 down in the series.