Tuesday

Selected fixtureWomenUSIU (KEN) vs Ubumwe (Rwa) 8pmWednesday selected fixturesMen: Group AUSIU (KEN) vs Patriot (Rwa) 12pmGroup BCity Oilers (UG) vs Espoir (Rwa) 2pmWomenUbumwe (Rwa) vs Don Bosco (TZ) 4pmMonday selected resultsMen: Group BEspoir (Rwa) 71-95 Ulinzi (KEN)WomenUbumwe 74-48 JKT Stars (TZ)

Espoir Basketball Club squandered an opportunity to seal a semi-final berth with a game to spare after losing to Kenya’s Ulinzi in Group B at the ongoing FIBA-Africa Zone V Club Championships in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.

Espoir, the tournament winners in 2012, made a perfect start to the tournament, winning their first two games against ABC of Tanzania and Citizen of South Sudan, but had their run halted by Ulinzi with a 71-95 defeat.Ulinzi dominated the game taking the lead in all quarters; 27-17, 46-32, 62-52 and 95-71 respectively.

"I am very disappointed that we have lost the game, we did several mistakes in the early minutes of the game and Ulinzi took advantage and set a gap that was too big for us to close down but we have to forget this loss and focus on our next game,” said Aime Kharim Nkusi the Espoir coach.

Espoir have a rest day today and return to action tomorrow against pre-tournament title favourites City Oilers from Uganda in the final group game.

By press-time, Rwanda’s other representative in the men category Patriots were due to play against National Engineering from South Sudan in Group B also seeking for a win to advance to the semis, having won their first two games.

Meanwhile in the women category, Ubumwe have continued to shine after winning their second game in three after overwhelming Tanzania’s JKT Stars 74-48.

Ubumwe started their campaign with a loss to Kenya’s giants KPA on Saturday, but bounced back strongly to win their next two games against Uganda’s KCCA and JKT of Tanzania respectively.

The Rwandan side won all the four straight quarters; 15-13, 29-18, 48-32 and 74-48.

Today, they have another mountain to climb against Kenya giants USIU at 4pm before facing Tanzania’s Don Bosco Lioness tomorrow in their penultimate game and UCU Canons on Thursday.

The top two in the seven-team women category will face off in the final slated for Friday.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw