Kyambogo Warriors' lack of team chemistry has been a more than viable excuse as the defence of their MTN-Fuba League title shows signs of going off the rails. This was brutally exposed as the champions lost 78-71 to a dazzling Nkumba Marines in front of a fair crowd at YMCA court, Wandegeya on Sunday night. Coach Gad Eteu was left to castigate the lack of mental toughness as his Marines counterpart Timothy Odeke praised the attitude of his players. Eteu's side was left chasing the game from the onset as Marines took the first two quarters 19-12 and 24-15 respectively to establish a commanding 16-point lead at the halfway stage.

"This is a very bad loss. I think the team finds it hard to recover from poor starts and that's a mental thing," Eteu said in an impassioned postmortem having signed Markmot Orom, Michael Kariuki, Pascal Alule and the Malinga brothers Henry and Eric in the off-season. Even in their fifth defeat this term, MVP Ronnie Kasewu turned on the style with a futile game-high 26 points as Warriors employed a desperate full-court press.

That got them a look in as they won the last two periods 22-16 and 22-19 respectively but the damage was already done. Losing narrowly to Power four days prior spurred forward Philip Wakimwero to dominate the paint on his way to a team-high 19 points. Chris Omweyo (15), Wilson Otweyo, Alex Mugoya (11) and Ladislas Ikungura (10) offered sufficient support. "All we needed is the right attitude. This is a complete team performance," said Odeke.

Sunday Results

Warriors 71-78 Marines

Falcons 105-60 Berkley

Riders 77-71 Ndejje

Livingstone 62-45 Vegetarian

Women

KCC 102-40 Mak Sparks

Today at YMCA

UCU Canons v Miracle (7:30pm)