Friday, August 13
•Tropical Royals 65-98 UCU Canons
•JKL Dolphins 73-65 Nam Blazers
Sunday, August 14
•KIU Rangers Vs KCCA Leopards – 2pm
•UCU Canons Vs Ndejje Angels – 4pm
•KCCA Panthers Vs UPDF Tomahawks – 6pm
Nam Blazers ended their regular season with a stunning 65-73 loss against JKL Dolphins on Friday at YMCA in the Tusker-Lite sponsored NBL.
The loss came off the back of Blazers’ 14-game unbeaten run that highlighted their impressive second round.
But despite the defeat, Coach Stephen ‘Escodata’ Nyeko’s side leapfrog City Oilers for a place at the top of the log with a better head-to-head.
And even if UCU Canons beat Ndejje in their remaining fixture on Sunday to move level, Blazers will remain at the summit due to a better head-to-head still amongst the three teams.
Against JKL, the Blazers will rue a poor second half where they were outscored 28-46.
Nam Blazers led 22-12 after the first quarter and the 10-point lead was maintained at the halftime break.
But JKL flipped the switch and were trailing by six points going into the last quarter which they opened with a 8-2 run to tie the game midway.
JKL continued to go at Blazers and created a clear day-light with a deep three-pointer from Ayiik Ayong with about a minute to end proceedings.
And Blazers never recovered in a game JKL failed to fetch a single point from their bench!
Maluel Dier (19pts, 10rebs) and Mabol Makol (18pts, 14rebs) picked double-doubles, Ayiik and Benfait Lola scored 16 points each while Derrick Katumba had 4 points and 13 rebounds for the Dolphins.
Ariel Okall scored 14 points, Richard Ongom and Paul Odong managed 11 and 10 points respectively in a losing effort.
