City Oilers survive COSPN scare

City Oilers needed a second half turnaround to defeat Madagascar’s COSPN 81-78 in the Division East Elite 16 Tuesday evening in Johhanesburg, South Africa.

Having started slow in the game, the Ugandan champions fould themselves chasing 12 points at half time but relied on the last two quarters to grab victory from the jaws of defeat.

Dane Miller Jr. scored a game-high 26 points and pulled down nine rebounds to mark his Oilers’ debut with victory.

Robinson Opong and Parrish Petty added 16 points apiece while Germaine Roebuck Jr. added 12 to see Mandy Juruni’s charges over the line.

COSPN started the game on the front foot, taking the first quarter 20-18 and the second 21-11 to lead 41-29 at the half.

A strong third quarter performance saw the turn things around, scoring 29 and limiting COSPN to 16 to lead 58-57 going into the final frame.

COSPN were unrelenting and had the game tied with under a minute to play.

Elly Randriamampionona connected from distance to tie the game at 76-76 with 32 seconds left on the clock but Perry drained a jumper and followed it up with one free throw to settle the contest.

No time to rest

The Ugandan champions will have little time to celebrate as they take on Zimbabwe’s JBC Wednesday.

Oilers will have to be in the top three at the end of Division East Elite 16 to grab a ticket to Season Four of the Basketball Africa League.

The nine-time champions are in Group B, alongside Ferroviario da Beira of Mozambique, COSPN and JBC.

The top two sides will advance to the semis and face the other two from Group A, which has Cape Town of South Africa, NBA Academy, Tanzania’s Pazi BBC and Dynamo of Burundi.

The two finalists and the winner of the third-place playoff will book their tickets to the BAL.

Basketball Africa League 

Division East Elite 16

Tuesday result

City Oilers 81-78 COSPN

Wednesday 

JBC vs. City Oilers -12pm