Ulinzi Warriors bitten by South Sudan’s Cobra Sports in Elite tourney
Ulinzi Warriors’ campaign in the Africa Champions Clubs Elite 16 road to Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2022, got an entangled start Wednesday evening, after succumbing to venomous biting from Cobra Sports of South Sudan in the opening match of Group H2 Division East qualifiers ongoing in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Kenyan champions had high hopes of beating the South Sudanese side to start their campaign on a high but a devastating Cobra Sports side led by newly signed Kenya International towering centre Tom ‘Bush’ Wamukota and Rwandese shooting guard Dieudonne Ndizeye, proved to be lynchpins, as they carried the bulk of the scoring, leading Cobra to beat Warriors 77-67.
Ndizeye had a hot hand from behind the arc, making 50 percent of his seven three-pointers, to emerge top-scorer with 32 points with Wamukota dropping 21 points and crashing 11 boards as he came up against his compatriots and some Kenya Morans teammates within the Ulinzi set-up.
The duo anchored Cobra to start the match brightly, rising to a 6-0 lead inside two minutes but Ulinzi fought back to win the first quarter 17-13. It was, however, the only showing the Kenyan champions managed as devastating bursts of scoring in the second quarter by Cobra, 23-15, overwhelmed Ulinzi, sending a bad signal of their downfall as they trailed 32-36 at halftime.
