City Oilers complete decade of excellence

Titus Lual, who won a second straight Playoffs MVP gong, scored 11 points and collected 14 rebounds for yet another double-double in the series.

The former UCU Canons big man would beat American guard Petty Parrish to the accolade despite the latter giving the Oilers a complete new look and creating major issues for the Titans. 

Parrish, who averaged 18 points, four rebounds and two assists, contributed a game-high 21 points on championship night while team captain Ivan Muhwezi posted 11 points before hoisting the trophy.

Veteran Ben Komakech started the season as an assistant coach and probably didn’t expect to play a big role. But the problems that the Oilers have had to deal with all season saw him become a huge part of the first unit. He scored 10 points in 21 minutes to add another ring.

The Titans looked beaten from the start, with head coach Julius Lutwama glued to his seat and barely uttering out any instructions as the Oilers peeled away.

Edgar Munaaba still managed a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds while Peter Obleng and Mpiya Juf added 12 points each to close the season for the Titans.

Game Four turned out to be the most convincing performance by the Oilers, who desperately wanted to close the series and end a season filled with endless troubles.

Tough season

This will certainly go down as the toughest season the Oilers have had to endure. And yet the results show that it is easily the best season since joining the top flight in 2013.

After losing head coach Mandy Juruni, who had won nine titles in a row to Rwanda’s Kepler, City Oilers handed the job to his long-time understudy Andrew Tendo.

Komakech was then named as Tendo’s assistant but the veteran guard retained his player status in the squad.

A poor return at the Basketball Africa League had the Ugandan outfit fail to make the playoffs. Losses to Bangui (2), Al Ahly Benghazi (2) and Al Ahly (1) meant that Oilers would fail to make the playoffs for the second time in a row.

And if that was not disappointment enough, what followed upon the team’s return to Kampala threatened to decimate the whole organization.

Senior players were unhappy with the limited playing time they got at the BAL but further angered by how the club management handled the remuneration after the trip to Cairo, Egypt.

What started as a minor misunderstanding ended with Jimmy Enabu, James Okello and Tonny Drileba walking out on the team with which they had enjoyed great success.

The trio left before the start of the second round but since then, the Oilers have made light work of every opponent faced and gone on to finish the season like they have done since joining the top flight.

The 60-54 loss to the Namuwongo Blazers on March 1, 2024 is the only blemish on the Oilers’ record this season. They ended the campaign as the top seed, swept Kampala Rockets and UCU Canons in the quarters and semis before finishing the job with another sweep against the Titans.

The problems, however, kept coming for the Oilers, especially off the court. Right before the start of the playoffs, forward Edrine Walujjo, who had become a key piece on the Oilers team, was arrested, detained and later released for alleged involvement in match-fixing.

Walujjo was later banned for five years by Fuba, leaving Tendo with just eight players.

And as the semifinal series against the Canons intensified, South Sudanese centre Mer Maker picked up a season-ending injury.

It was at that point that the record champions brought in Parrish, who had been registered during the transfer window, probably for such cases.

Having played for the team in the Road To BAL before, Parrish was a familiar face for the Oilers players and turned out to be the game-changer to help them over the line.

The 6-feet-2-inch guard announced his arrival in Game Three of the semifinal series against UCU, nailing four threes down the stretch to close the series.

To start the finals, Parrish poured in 22 and 34 in Game One and Two respectively before going quiet with just two points in Game Three, in which he picked up a muscle cramp.

His 21 points on Wednesday helped deliver the tenth title and despite not winning the MVP gong, he was right in the conversation was Oilers’ most important piece.

All the past problems were put aside on Wednesday as the Oilers' faithful joined their players to celebrate yet another milestone. 

National Basketball League Awards

Individual Accolades

Top Rebounder: Pauti Ozias Kikomba

Top Scorer: Peter Cheng

Best three-point shooter: Tembo Kasereka

Best Defensive Player: Titus Lual

Best Five: Joel Lukoji, Kasereka Tembo, Peter Cheng, Titus Lual, Pauti Ozias Kikomba

MVP: Titus Lual