While defending their league title remains a possibility, Patriots Basketball Club are not taking anything for granted and have set their sights on both the local and regional editions of this year’s Genocide memorial tournament titles.

The Kagugu-based side have already qualified for the semi-finals of the local edition tournament with a game to spare after winning their first two group (B) games.  

According to head coach Henry Mwinuka, his side have turned their total focus on this tournament in case newcomers REG go on to dethrone them in the national basketball league.

"We really need to win this tournament and later defend the regional title that we won last year. This is a big club that must win trophies and, although we remain in the title race, there is a possibility of missing out on the trophy, which means we have to save our season in the other competitions,” said Mwinuka

In their opening group game, Patriots tamed 30-Plus 120-50 before beating reigning playoffs champions IPRC-South in a closely contested game 77-72 to lead the group with four points, followed by APR and IPRC-South in the second and third, respectively, while 30 Plus are bottom with two points.

In their remaining fixture, Patriots, the reigning champions of the regional edition, will take on APR this Friday.

In group A, the reigning champions of this tournament, Espoir Basketball Club, are leading the group with three points from two games, while REG and IPRC-Kigali are in the second and third places, respectively.

Each is left with a game to play.

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