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Fiba Zone V Qualifiers: Uganda U18 sides off to flying start
Junior Silverbacks Brighton Galiwango is leading the charts. PHOTO/JOHN BATANUDDE
What you need to know:
Uganda dominated the board, outrebounding Tanzania 75-30 and scoring 33 second chance points.
The Junior Silverbacks and Gazelles got off to a flying start in the Fiba Zone V U18 Afrobasket Qualifiers taking place at the Lugogo Indoor Stadium to leave the home crowd in celebrations.
It was the Junior Gazelles that got the home crowd going wild first, as they brushed aside neighbours Rwanda in a one-sided 78-40 victory.
John Omondi’s charges relied on a solid second quarter of the game, in which they scored a massive 31 points and limited Rwanda to 13, to go into the halftime break with a healthy 15-point lead (42-27) lead.
Uganda then took the third frame 14-13 before pouring in 22 and keeping Rwanda scoreless in the fourth for a dominant 38-point victory to start the campaign.
Resty Nanangwe was the star of the day for the Junior Gazelles, her double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds leading the way. Modesta Anyango added 14 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Shiphrah Kiranda added eight points and 11 rebounds.
Rwanda struggled to get going on Day One, and despite Brigitte Nibishaka’s double-double of 20 points and 22 rebounds, could not stop the damage.
Junior Silverbacks too good
When it was the Junior Silverbacks’ turn to take to the court, there were a few worried faces in the partisan crowd upon learning that four of the team’s best players had not been cleared by Fiba to take part in the opener.
Kagaba Musiime, Mukisa Nkugwa, Eli Senyange and Jotham Ssewanyama all missed the clash with Tanzania.
To make matters worse, Aaron Makmot turned up with the wrong jersey and ended up missing the first minutes of the contest until one of the players rushed to Nobview Hotel in Ntinda and returned with the right uniform.
But Andrew Tendo’s charges faced little resistance from the Tanzanians and ended up recording the first century of the game, with a commanding 103-48 victory.
Limited to using just eight players, Uganda controlled proceedings from start to finish, pouring in 30 first quarter points before taking a 22-point lead (50-28) lead into the long break.
Uganda dominated the board, outrebounding Tanzania 75-30 and scoring 33 second chance points.
There were three players who recorded double-doubles on the night, with Brighton Galiwango scoring 23 points and collecting 10 rebounds, while Tejan Rugette added 19 and 12.
Makmot would eventually get on to the floor and helped himself to a 13 and 10 double-double in 24 minutes. Edrine Ekau and Peter Serunjogi contributed 19 and 14 points respectively.
