Timothy Odeke, the man in charge of Nkumba Marines, will be pleased his side won the opening game of the first round of the FUBA Division I Playoffs against UPDF Tomahawks.

However, victory could have slipped out of the Marines’ hands as players numerously pressed the self-destruct button, especially in the second half when they assumed the lead and got a grip of the game.

Felix Mukunzi’s corner three-ball at the horn that could have sent the game to overtime rolled around and rimmed out for Nkumba to win the contest 65-62.

The prime time game at YMCA started slow but it was the Tomahawks that showed initiative, especially in the second quarter with some good ball movement to get skipper Henry Okoth open looks behind the arc that resulted in a 5-point (34-29) lead at the break.

UPDF went cold in the third quarter thanks largely to Moses Mandiria’s short-blocking ability that gave Tomahawks nothing around the rim and limited the army side to just 2 field goals in the frame.

Nkumba’s elevation of the defensive effort in the third quarter led to 7 turnovers but Chol Ajang, Santino Malong and Matiok Nhial were guilty of throwing away the ball in desperate search of fastbreak points. Nevertheless, Marines led by six points (46-40) going into the final quarter.

Nkumba led by 9 points midway through the fourth quarter but a couple of treys from Okoth and Mukunzi kept UPDF in touching distance and could have taken the lead with under a couple of minutes to play but Joel Muwonge missed clutch foul shots.

Game 2 of the series will be played today (Sunday, January 5) at KIU.

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