ESPOIR basketball club stunned pre-tournament favourites Patriots 67-58 in the opening game of this year’s Heroes’ Day basketball tournament on Saturday night at Amahoro Indoor Stadium.
Today: Women
APR 67-57 Ubumwe
IPRC-South 78-45 U18 National Team
Men
Patriots vs IPRC-South 1pm
REG vs APR 3pm
Saturday
Men
Espoir 67-58 Patriots
APR 52-61 IPRC-South
Women
The Hoops 46-61 APR
Ubumwe 66-84 IPRC-South
ESPOIR basketball club stunned pre-tournament favourites Patriots 67-58 in the opening game of this year’s Heroes’ Day basketball tournament on Saturday night at Amahoro Indoor Stadium.
It was a second Espoir’s victory over one of the top teams in the local game following their 100-77 league win over reigning champions Rwanda Energy Group (REG) a fortnight ago.
The 2018 Heroes Day tourney started on Saturday and will run through to February 4. In another game, IPRC-South defeated APR 61-52.
Patriots started well the game but Espoir refused to give up, displaying a high level of maturity and determination to overturn a 24-34 half-time deficit to down hopefuls Patriots in a hard fought 67-58 win.
Regis Gatoto (19 points) and youngster Armel Sangwe (16 points) combined for a total 35 points for Maxime Mwineneza’s team while Kenyan-born Micheal Makiadi topped Patriots’ score-sheet with 17 points.
In the women’s category, last year’s finalists The Hoops Rwanda lost 46-61 to APR and holders Ubumwe were shocked by IPRC-South 64-84.