NBL Finals: Ariel Okal’s Blazers secure a big win to level the series

The Namuwongo Blazers were once again on the side of victory as they secured a huge 76-71 win over the FUBA perennial champions City Oilers in a hotly contested Game 6 of the National Basketball League finals at the MTN Arena on Sunday night.

That was the second win for the Blazers in a span of two days after seeing off the Oilers 70-65 on Friday night at the same venue. The back to back victories have seen the Namuwongo Blazers claw back from a 3-1 series deficit to now in full control of their destiny come Wednesday night at the YMCA Grounds.

As per the norm in the last three matches, the Namuwongo Blazers found themselves in a hole in the opening quarter, trailing by a basket at the end of it. Comebacks have been key for the Blazers and they did it right once again winning all the remaining three quarters of the ball game to bagging a 5 point victory at the end after being deadlocked at 41-41 at halftime.

32 year old Ariel Okal has been the heartbeat of the Blazers side and his excitement was notable as he gave his raw thoughts after the Sunday night win:

“Game 7 here we come! This is unbelievable. They say championships are earned and boy did we fight out there. Friday night was a statement of intent and here we are again, one game to claim it all, enjoyable stuff!” Okal exclusively told Mozzart Sport.

Given the lofty standards set on Friday night with a double-double act, the Kenya Moran’s guard and now center had an affectively quiet game scoring 4 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block in the slightly over 31 minutes on the floor.

“The belief in this team has been exceptional. We knew that our backs we against the wall coming into the game but our guys showed calm and kept focused. As I said earlier, we are dealing with the present and all our minds could think about was winning this one game and we did it.” Okal added.

An underrated part of the Namuwongo Blazers piece has been the team head coach Stephen Escodata, who Okal says has been key to their success this season, “The coach has been consistently great at what he does. We had a conversation with him after the game 4 defeat where I came off the bench and as you can see, his quick adaptation has bore fruits. He has a thing in trusting in his guys plus his rotation is brilliant.”

As Okal also admits, the sight of the trophy in the last two potential close-out games has quietly motivated the squad to win. A keen eye from the Kenya Moran’s manager plus a host of Kenyans who have travelled in numbers to support their own was noted by Ariel Okal and as per him, “That was a great sight and definitely a motivation factor.”

Amisi Saidi, points leader in the game with 27 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds attracted huge praise from Okal after the game:

“He had an uncharacteristic shooting night in Game 5 but this is the guy we all know. He is such a solid player and I don’t believe they [Oilers] have an answer for him.”

Okello James led the scoring for the City Oilers with 17 points as Ivan Muhwezi added 13 from the bench.

Of concern yet again was fellow Kenyan Kenneth Wachira missing from the team due to the league’s foreigner rule, a thing likely to see him out in Game 7.

In an interesting turn-around of events in the women’s game, the UCU Lady Canons claimed a big 62-48 victory over the JKL Dolphins to also force a Game 7 decider after rallying back from a similar 3-1 deficit as did the Blazers. Both games tip off on Wednesday evening at the YMCA Grounds as the curtains to what has been a crowd-pulling NBL season comes to an end