National Basketball League results
Betway Power 88-81 Ndejje University
Startimes Falcons 58-79 Our Saviour
City Oilers 73-52 Sharing Youth
Women
Nkumba 49-45 A1 Challenge
Betway Power completed their National Basketball League first round games with two victories of quite similar fashion.
Twice against KIU Titans and Ndejje University, the five-time champions used strong fourth quarter performances to overcome slow starts as they won 64-56 and 88-81 respectively. The most pleasing aspect for the double victories was however the impact of role players according to Betway Power coach Arnold ‘Mchuda” Lando. “We had very good energy from the bench,” Lando said of the past two games.
First, Willy Nijimbere impressed on his debut with his 13-minute cameo proving decisive late in the final period. All six of his points came in the final five minutes including an alley-oop that got the fans on their feet in addition to the three rebounds and two assists as Power dominated 21-8. This was after they trailed 19-9 and 16-13 in the second and third quarters respectively. The Burundian import is expected to play a bigger role in the second round as proved in the subsequent game against Ndejje, scoring 11 points in 25 minutes.
Sunday however belonged to Nasser “Kikiri” Guddi who stepped off the bench in the third quarter to score 15 points Power won the final two quarters 20-16 and 28-18. “He is trying to prove to me wrong, that he deserves more minutes and that is the mentality I have always been asking for from our bench players. I have similarly told Francis (Kasinde) that is the mentality I expect from him,” he added of the power forward that finished with five points in seven minutes.
Michael Makiadi’s performances have meanwhile also stood out in the final two games. He followed up on the massive 20 points and rebounds against KIU with another double-double of 23 points and 15 boards against Ndejje. He is also averaging a league best 18 points and 12 rebounds for Power who concluded the first round with a 9-2 sequence.
That record can only be bettered by Warriors that stand at 8-1 and play JKL Dolphins on Wednesday evening.