Silverbacks bounce back with victory over Cameroon

After losing 93-55 to Senegal in their opening game at the Fiba Afrobasket Championship in Kigali, Rwanda, the Silverbacks needed to make adjustments and bounce back to stay on course for the quarter-finals.

George Galanopoulos got a response from his charges as they beat Cameroon 80-66 to register Uganda’s first-ever victory in the group stages of the championship.

There was great improvement overall as the Silverbacks dictated the tempo of the game, shot the ball, and made Cameroon work for most of the points made on the day.

The Silverbacks led 16-6 midway through the first quarter with Adam Seiko leading the charge early on as he found his rhythm.

Ishmail Wainwright drove to the basket and kicked out to find a wide-open Robinson Opong for a three-pointer to end the first ten minutes. Uganda led 27-22.

A double-digit lead was established in the second quarter with Seiko, Wainwright, and Deng Geu all hot on offence.

Uganda took the second quarter 17-11 to lead 44-36 going into the halftime break.

Wainwright continued to impose himself on the game and facilitated the rest of the players for easy buckets whenever Cameroon double-teamed him.

He ended the game with 11 assists, 12 rebounds, and nine points as his efficiency saw Uganda hold on to the game whenever Cameroon tried to put up a scoring run.

Uganda put pressure on the ball whenever they were out of possession and caused Cameroon problems.

Kieran Zziwa, Tony Drileba, and Opong came off the bench to give the Silverbacks good minutes especially when the team was on the back foot and needed pressure defence.

The Silverbacks made 30 of 66 shots including 10 from beyond the arc and 20 from inside to improve their shooting which was awful against Senegal.

Seiko recorded a game-high 20 points in his second appearance for Uganda. The guard went four-of-seven from the three-point range and two-of-two from inside. He was also perfect on the line by making all four of his attempts.

Opong added 15 points, John Deng Geu had 14 points and seven rebounds while Arthur Kaluma contributed 12 points.

For Cameroon, D.J. Strawberry scored team-high 17 points and grabbed 5 assists while Kenneth Kadji had 11 points.

Arnold Kome scored 9 points in Cameroon’s losing effort.

The Silverbacks will now focus on their last group game against South Sudan on Sunday.