Saturday, February 10

Men

UGB 65-59 Espoir

Women

APR 61-54 Kepler

REG 85-39 EAUR

The Hoops 91-27 UR Kigali

Topflight side United Generation Basketball (UGB) fought to the last minute to register their first win of the Rwanda Basketball League season following Saturday night’s narrow 65-59 victory over Espoir at Lycée de Kigali Gymnasium.

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Veteran point guard Emmanuel Iyakaremye contributed a game-high 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists while his teammates Espoir Aganze and Eric Kayondo added 14 and 10 points, respectively, to help their resilient UGB side start the campaign on a positive note.

Espoir opened the game with a double digit lead before UGB came back strong in the second quarter to lead the first half with 33-30.

The game was closely contested in the second half but Espoir could not get a lead from the beginning of the fourth quarter.

UGB’s biggest lead was 13 points during the third quarter, while Espoir only led with six points in the first half.

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Saturday night’s win was also largely attributed to UGB’s deep roster, especially points from the bench, where the team collected 21 points against Espoir’s 16.

On the floor, UGB counted losses from turnovers giving away 26 points against Espoir’s17 points.

While champions APR and REG both began the season winning, eyes will be turned on Patriots who will go up against Tigers at Lycée de Kigali Gymnasium on Sunday.

In women’s category, champions APR beat began their title defense in style following a 61-54 hard-fought victory over Kepler while runners-up REG snatched dominated EAUR with a convincing 85-39 win as The Hoops thrashed UR-Kigali 91-27.