National Basketball League 2019
Saturday, 13-04-2019
MTN Arena, Lugogo
Men
-KIU Titans 106-75 Kampala University
-Falcons 59-63 Sharing Youth
-KCCA Men 61-75 Warriors
Ladies:
-MUK Sparks 41-62 KIU Rangers
-YMCA Lady Hamsters 42-77 UCU Lady Canons
-A1 Challenge 87-61 UMU Ravens
Lugogo: Denis Balungu produced a game-high 30 points as 2017 FUBA National Basketball League losing finalist got off to a flying start in the current campaign.
Balungu added seven rebounds and two assists as the Brian Wathum side defeated debutants Kampala University (KU) 106-75 on Saturday night.
Despite eventually losing the game, Kampala University took the first quarter 23-22 much to the shock of revelers. Ironically, Balungu made only six points in the second quarter.
KU were further put to the sword in the third as the Titans took it 26-13, to increase their advantage to a comfortable 26 points.
After also winning the third 28-23, warriors eventually won the game 106-75 to climb on top of the standings.
Aside from Balungu’s 30, Michael Bwanga and Captain Sudi Ulanga contributed 21 and 17 points respectively with substitute Henry Okoth adding 10 in the winning effort.
For Kampala University, Ahmed Kassa top scored with 19 points, followed by Joram Kato and Moses Mugisha who put out 11 and 16 points respectively.
Later in the evening, 2012 League champions Warriors overcame KCCA Men, 75-61 to also get off to a winning start.
Deng Maker was the star of the show, grabbing his first double-double of the campaign as he scored 14 points and collected 10 rebounds in the win for Warriors.
Samad Imran and Mark Opio also came up with the goods, scoring 10 and 13 points respectively.
Joint league record winners Falcons, on the other hand, put out a spirited fight before falling 59-63 to a hard Sharing Youth team.
Playing in a Chicago Bulls-like Jersey, the six-time champions led the first quarter 21-11 but failed to capitalize on their early start to allow Sharing Youth mounted a comeback.
David Donat and Caesar Kizito put up 25 and 11 points respectively for the Nsambya based side.
Francis Karoro scored 19 points for Falcons, Dickson Asiku (19) and Douglas Uwizera (11) also hit double point figures for the sleeping giants.
In the Women’s division, National Basketball League new comers MUK Sparks and YMCA Lady Hamsters were handed a baptism of fire in their opening games.
MUK and YMCA lost 41-62 and 42-77 respectively to KIU and UCU in that order.
Last year’s finalists UCU won the first three quarters before switching off the beast mode to lose the last quarter 13-14 but the damage had already been inflicted.
The Lady Canons were big value for the result, having the trio of Zainah Lokwameri (21 points, 15 rebounds), Maimuna Nabbosa (21, 3 rebounds) and Shakira Nanvubya (15 points, 5 rebounds) register double point figures.
Sunday’s fixtures:
Sunday, April 14
Ladies.
-Angels Vs Nkumba Lady Marines – 11:00 AM
-A1 Challenge Vs YMCA Lady Hamsters – 1:00 PM
Men.
-Our Saviour Vs JKL Dolphins – 3:00 PM
-Ndejje University Vs UCU Canons – 5:00 PM
