Patriots defeat City Oilers to remain unbeaten in BAL Qualifiers

DAR ES SALAAM (Tanzania) - With class, intensity and teamwork, Rwandan outfit Patriots saw off the City Oilers of Uganda 74-63 on Sunday evening at the National Indoor Stadium to finish top of Group D at the Basketball Africa League Qualifying Tournament. 

Patriots coach Henry Mwinuka masterminded a well-thought out plan that sought to highlight the depth in his squad to expose his opponents' thin squad that struggled on both ends of the court. 

Youngster Guiberty Nijimbere and Dieudonne Ndayisaba came off the bench to score 14 and 11 points respectively in continuation of their prowess that has shown their excellence on the court throughout the competition. 

“I AM VERY HAPPY WITH THE WAY THE BOYS PLAYED TODAY. WE CORRECTED ALL OUR MISTAKES THAT WE MADE YESTERDAY AND PLAYED GOOD DEFENSE. FOUR STRAIGHT WINS GIVES US CONFIDENCE GOING INTO THE NEXT ROUND. ”- Mwinuka

Patriots were the better team in the first quarter and led 18-10 but City Oilers coach Mandy Juruni turned things around with the introduction of point guard Josh Johnson who brought with him a touch of urgency to the game. 

The Oilers cut down the deficit to just one point as the Patriots led 32-31 at the half time break but things changed in the third quarter and the latter opened up a 13 point lead 58-45 by the end of the period thanks to three off-the-screen three pointers from Kenneth Gasana, Ndayisaba and Nijimbere. 

Nijimbere has been a fan favorite

Patriots forced mismatches on offense and most notably shared the ball recording 20 assists as compared to City Oilers eight. Juruni was left disappointed with his side's conversion rate on the charity line as they scored 10 of their 24 attempts. 

Things went south when Oilers power forward and captain James Okello fouled out, the Patriots smelled more blood and finished off the game in style. 

Michael Makiadi registered the game's only double double with 14 points and 10 rebounds as Gasana added 13 points and six rebounds. 

"I am very happy with the way the boys played today. We corrected all our mistakes that we made yesterday and played good defense. Four straight wins gives us confidence going into the next round," explained Mwinuka to FIBA.basketball. 

City Oilers shooting guard Robinson Opong who was the only player for his side to record double figures with 10 points said, "Obviously, we started very slow. It took us some time to adjust to the game. Overall, we did a good job. It is good if we lose now so that we can go back to camp, regroup and work on our mistakes."

Opong was the only City Oilers player in double figures

Meanwhile, in the last game of the competition, JKT captain Baraka Athumani scored a tournament high of 45 points and six rebounds to inspire his team to an 88-68 victory over Burundian side Dynamo.

Stephano Mshana added 14 points and 12 rebounds as the hosts improved their win ratio to 2-2 at the competition to finish in third position in Group D.

Patriots and City Oilers have qualified for the Basketball Africa League Second Round Qualifiers that will get underway next month through to December. 

FIBA