Today at Lugogo
UCU v Warriors (8pm)
Women:
A1 v KCC (6pm)
(Both series tied 1-1)
Div. II:
Heaters 78-81 Gulu
(Gulu, Heaters tied 1-1)
It'been a thrill watching semifinals of the MTN-Fuba League play-offs so far. However, the fracas that surrounded game three of the best-of-five semifinal series between Kyambogo Warriors and UCU Canons spilled beyond the court.As Warriors fought back to level the series 1-all with a gusty 70-66 victory last Friday, there was a near brawl late in the fourth quarter at the MTN-NCS Arena Lugogo. Animosity will be evident again tonight in game three with little information trickling in about sanctions on various players.
Warriors’ guard Jude Ochen and UCU’s Robert Mugabe were the instigators of the fracas. The ensuing chaos ended in Warriors centre Michael Kariuki and the UCU duo of Robert Mugabe and Sam Rukaire being ejected for unsportsmanlike behaviour.
Over the past two days, the Federation of Uganda Basketball Association (Fuba) technical committee, headed by William Musaazi, has held meetings to review the incident. “I can confirm that we have looked at evidence of what happened extensively. Some players will definitely be sanctioned,” Musaazi told Daily Monitor yesterday without giving too much away. He did not give any details about the appeal process and the criteria being used to reach any punishments since the umpires initially ignored it.
Video evidence?
Warriors coach Gad Eteu does not back any bans unless it is the umpires who wrote a report detailing the confrontation. “There is no rule in the books that allows video evidence to be used in issuing penalties so it would be wrong to go down that route. If anything like that comes up, both Warriors and UCU will have to appeal,” Eteu said.
In the women’s division, champions KCC Leopards and A1 Challenge are seeking to move within one victory of the final. During their 72-67 win in game two, A1 out-rebounded KCC 44-29. This should a big point of concern for Timothy Odeke, the latter’s coach.