Odeke: Power short-handed and weaker than last season

During their 72-60 win over Kampala Rockets Wednesday night, Dmark Power could not afford to hand Philip Ameny a much-needed break after taking a hit in a contest for a rebound. 

The Kenyan big man was visibly in pain but kept going in and out as the five-time champions looked to close the contest and register their second win of the season. 

He ended the game with 13 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in 32 minutes and is one of the players having to play big minutes due to a lack of options on the bench. 

Timothy Odeke’s charges are short-handed and running a rotation of just eight players, following departures at the end of last season and the team’s failure to get significant additions beyond Ameny. 

“Despite acquiring Ameny, which I think was a good addition, I think we lost a lot of good players,” Odeke told Daily Monitor.

“The two bigs we had and the shooting guard, those were starters so they took something out of us and we didn't make good use of acquiring personnel in the beginning of the season but we want to improve that starting the second round,” he added. 

Elvis Mpeti, Ozias Kikomba, Mobanza Ndiga and Stephen Otoa are some of the players who left the club at the end of last season. 

Salimu Kisilu and Mpeti were expected to beef up the team’s front court, but their moves failed to get over the line, with the former now playing in Kenya while the latter features for the Kigali Titans in Rwanda. 

Need time

At the moment, Ameny, veteran Isaac Afidra, Sammad Imran, Elvis Mutebi and Elvis Ssentongo are the backbone of Power, but with little help coming off the bench. 

Reagan Lemaniku, Christopher Adoghe and Yat Tiem Ruot Tut, the only substitutes available, are all yet to prove themselves on the big stage. 

“We are both experienced and inexperienced, both talented and also still learning.

“Our bench is really thin, with a rotation of eight players, half of whom are not as experienced as Afidra and Ameny.

“You have two players trying to lead a pack of the other guys that are not as experienced as them.” 

With a 2-2 record, Power are bottom of the 12-team log and will be looking to add another win when they take on the JT Jaguars on Wednesday.