Saturday

Espoir 93-80 IPRC-Kigali30-Plus 35-76 APR

Women

UR- CASS 58-57 The Hoops

Friday

CSK 87-80 IPRC-Kigali

Cercle Sporif de Kigali (CSK) basketball club are determined to dethrone holders Espoir as champions of the playoffs series, which begin this weekend.

The two giants met in last year’s finals, and will again come head-to-head in the best-of-three semi-finals with the Game 1 scheduled for Friday evening.

CSK head coach Bob Ngoga believes time is now for his team to prove their worth and can deny Espoir for a second title of the season and a fourth successive double—league and playoffs titles.

Espoir finished on top of the table in the regular season while CSK came on four position. Newly-formed Patriots BC, who finished second, will be up against third-placed APR will vying for a ticket to the best-of-five finals.

"We could have done better in the league but the important thing right now is that we secured a slot in the play-off. We are facing holders Espoir in the semi-finals and the target is to see them off and go on to win the trophy,” Ngoga told Times Sport.

Three weeks ago, the later lost 55-57 to CSK in the final of the local Genocide Memorial Tournament.

Last year, Jean Bahufite’s Espoir claimed the title after overpowering CSK in a four-game series of finals (3-1) and former Rwanda’s international of Mike Buzangu of CSK was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the competition.

In the meantime, both Espoir and CSK finished the regular season on high, winning their final league games 93-80 on Saturday and 87-80 on Friday against Kicukiro-based IPRC-Kigali respectively.

Elsewhere, APR thrashed 30-Plus 76-35. In women’s league, UR-College of Arts and Social Sciences (UR- CASS) narrowly won 58-57 over The Hoops Rwanda.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw