Chang`ombe Boys lost by 73-63 points to Savio in the ongoing Dar es Salaam regional basketball league match played at the National Indoor Stadium on Sunday.
The losers had to blame themselves for letting the win slip through their hands after dominating the match right up to the last quarter. Savio deployed a rare resurgence firepower to seize the victory with last-gasp mesmerizing moves to emerge victorious.
The absence of dependable centre play maker Mohamed Makani in the last quarter contributed much to Chang’ombe Boys’ downfall.
Savio capitalized on the Chang’ombe Boys defensive weaknesses to finally take control of the game.
Savio were a pale shadow of themselves in the first two quarters when Chang’ombe Boys enjoyed possession and kept slotting in points through their dependable scorers Adam Jegame and Makani to lead by 16-14 and 33-21points, respectively.
With the energetic Makani in top form, Chang’ombe Boys were a team that could attack and defend with remarkable proficiency and their impressive displays kept their fans cheering throughout.
Savio relied much on one of their defensive stalwarts George Tarimo at the time but the big man was not at his usual best although he chipped in with good defensive play to deny fast Chang’ombe Boys trio of Jegame, Mohamed Mbwana and Jovin Malekani.
Inspired by their playmaker Mohamed Yusuph, Henry Mwinuka and Jije Makani, Savio regrouped and bravely fought from 12 points down at the breather to force 42-42 points draw in the third quarter.
Chang’ombe Boys then lost their big man Makani in the fourth minute of the last quarter after he had committed a foul and brought his total number of personal fouls to five that saw him off the court.
Irate Chag’ombe Boys’ fans protested against the decision claiming Makani was wrongly judged to have committed the fifth foul and the match came to a stand still.
The two teams kept canceling each other’s lead for the rest of the game and Savio eventually fully exploited several free throw opportunities to win.
Tarimo and Makani scored 18 points apiece and Yusuph added 15 points for Savio while Chang’ombe Boys’ Jegame finished with game-high 31 points, Makani had 16 points and Mbwana scored four points.
ABC won by 83-71 points against Tanzania Prisons earlier at the same venue to console themselves following the defeat at the hands of JKT a day earlier.