Oilers move a step closer to the semis
The Oilers' second win in a row has helped the nine-time Uganda champions move a step closer to the Semi-Finals thanks to its current 2-0 mark.
JOHANNESBURG (South Africa) - Less than 24 hours after combining for 42 points and inspire City Oilers to a nail-bitting win over COSPN, Parrish Petty and Dane Miller did it again on Wednesday as the Ugandan champions beat JBC 84-71.
Once again, the duo scored more than half of City Oilers' points with Petty leading the way with a game-high of 29 points while Miller added 14.
The Oilers' second win in a row has helped the nine-time Uganda champions move a step closer to the Semi-Finals thanks to its current 2-0 mark.
It was a must-win encounter for the Zimbabwe champions who are still chasing their first win in the East Division Elite 16.
Saul Phiri and Tafadzwa Tela finished with 16 points apiece but Addison Chiware's charges will need to wait another 24 hours to find out whether or not they can become the first Zimbabwe side to advance to the Last Four of the competition.
TURNING POINT: A 45-45 score at the break and the 14 lead changes indicated how evenly-matched this game was.
And although JBC led 71-69 with 5 minutes left, City Oilers kept them scoreless for the remaining of the game while using a 15-0 run to improve to 2-0 in Group B.
HERO: There's no questions about the impact of Miller and Petty in the winning cause, but it's worth noting how huge Titus Odeke was for the Oilers.
Odeke was a point shy of a double-double thanks to his 9 points and 13 rebounds. In addition to his big numbers, the 24-year-old center made his presence felt defensively by swatting three JBC's shooting opportunities.
Parrish Petty
STATS DON'T LIE: Whether it was too much pressure of trying to hold on to a lead or not, it remains to be clear, but turning the ball over six times in the final quarter of a must-win game, it's a lesson that JBC will never forget any time soon.
And to make matters worse for the Harare-based side, moving the ball around and create shooting opportunities for one another was a struggle as the seven (7) assists attested.
BOTTOM LINE: It's still a bit early to rule JBC out of the race for a place in the semis, but once thing is certain, the Zimbabwe champions have to be able to move the ball around. After finishing with just six assists in a 75-55 loss to Ferroviario da Beira, JBC came up with only 7 assists against the Oilers. Any questions where JBC struggles are? Certainly not.
On the other hand, City Oilers couldn't be in a stronger position ahead of a clash against a known opponent (Ferroviario da Beira) on Thursday.
WHAT THEY SAID: "My boys played hard. We should have defended those three-pointers better. That was the difference. Number 00 [Petty] got very hot in the last two minutes... Unfortunately we went below." - Addison Chiware, JBC head coach.
"We have to respect teams that are playing here. They are here to compete and to win. At the end of the day we have to expect that we have to play hard; play through tough times to get a win. That's very important for us. We are not concerned about winning the game by 20 points; How we play and how we improve, that's important for us." - Mandy Juruni, City Oilers head coach.
FIBA