The soldiers trailed 23-17 at halftime after an incredibly low scoring second quarter, but they rose in the third and fourth quarters to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Missing skipper Eric Mutoro who is out on the long term after tearing his achilles tendon in training, the new look Ulinzi side which has seen most of their experienced players retire seemed to struggle with the pace of the young Uni baddies, but they managed to steady the ship to clinch victory.

Head coach Bernard Mufutu was not entirely pleased with the performance of his team.

“I think it’s a little bit not like us having a slow start. It’s a bad trend but we will try work on it. We were not playing very well in the first three quarters but we adjusted well defensively. But we need to do better especially offensively,” the tactician told Capital Sport after the game.

He was also worried with the number of points lost from the free throw line, saying it is a worry for him and has called on his players to mentally pick the team up at such instances.

Brans Nzioka led the scoring front for the military side with 13 points, and his perfomances outside the arch were the main catalyst for Ulinzi’s revival.

Malcom Ajuly was UoN’s top point scorer, managing 10.

The first quarter was a see-saw affair, Terror hinging on the crowd noise to take the soldiers toe to toe, with the scores standing at 13-a-piece.

In the second quarter though, Ulinzi declined and their scoring in the paint was shambolic, and even worse on the free throw line. They managed just four points the entire 10 minutes while the University lads had 10, taking the half time scores to 23-17, a six point gap giving UoN some hope of a shock victory.

In the third quarter though, Ulinzi upped their game and played with more intensity, Nzioka taking charge of the offense well and with 2:07 to play, was fouled as he made a basket but he missed on the free throw line, Ulinzi coming to within three points at 26-23.

Their soft underbelly from the free throw line was still showing off when Collins Muliro won back to back fouls, but only made two of the four.

But, with six seconds left to the end of the quarter, Nzioka saw his side go into the lead for the first time in the game, as he scored from beyond the arck to take the scores to 29-28.

In the last quarter, Ulinzi were off to a fast paced start and a scoring run of 5-0 saw the UoN bench call a time out to stem the tide, but there was no stopping the soldiers as they commanded the quarter to win the game.

They will take on another University side, Kenyatta University in their third game of the season on Saturday evening.

“We will assess the team and make some changes. We expect another tough game because KU is a good side and much improved. We will also make some adjustments and hopefully we come out top,” said coach Mufutu.