SaturdayPatriots 82-66 UGBEspoir 59-64 IPRC-SouthIPRC-Kigali 81-84 APR

APR started their basketball national league campaign on a winning note defeating IPRC-Kigali 84-81 at Amahoro Indoor Stadium on Saturday evening.

IPRC-Kigali had started strongly winning the first quarter 17-15, but Karim Nkusi’s APR, chasing a first league title since 2010, recovered to claim the second and third quarters 24-9 and 23-17, respectively, while IPRC-Kigali took the fourth quarter 38-22.

IPRC-Kigali captain Bruno Nyamwasa finished with a game high 25 points. APR’s top scorers were Brian Mbanze with 16 points, while Parfait Ishimwe and Gedega Kajeguhakwa both got nine points.

After the game, APR coach Nkusi side: "We’re happy for the good result, it’s good to start the season with victory but we can’t forget that it’s only the first game of the season, we need to win more games, consistently.”

In another game, IPRC-South defeated former champions Espoir 64-59.

IPRC-South narrowly won the first quarter 14-13, Espoir took the second quarter 16-15, IPRC-South rallied back to win the third quarter 18-13, while both teams tied 17-17 in the fourth quarter.

Fabrice Rukundo of IPRC-South scored a game high 24 points and was well-supported by Bienvenu Niyonsaba, who finished with 19 points. Espoir’s Pascal Niyonkuru and Armel Sangwe had 21 and 13 points.

Elsewhere, Rwanda international Astride Mugabe scored a game high 27 points to lead Patriots to an 82-66 win against United Generation Basketball (UGB). The playoffs reigning champions won all four quarters; 25-22, 18-15, 20-14 and 19-15 respectively.

Sédar Sagamba dropped 22 points while Didier Amani was UGB’s top scorer with 19 points.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw