Poor preps led to Espoir’s loss, says Karekezi

Sunday Espoir 65-73 IPRC-Kigali UGB 79-46 UR- CoE Rusizi 64-68 IPRC-South APR 78-59 CSK Patriots 80-55 KBC ESPOIR Basketball Club endured a shocking 65-73 defeat at the hands of IPRC-Kigali on Sunday at University of Rwanda College of Technology courts, their first regular season loss in three seasons. The Nyamirambo-based side, which has won the league for the past three consecutive seasons, went a whole week without a single training session because their home court at Club Rafiki was under renovation. This could be the reason for their surprise defeat, according to forward Pascal Rurangirwa Karekezi. He said, “We have to bounce back as quickly as possible, we leant our lesson from Sunday’s defeat and I believe we will recover and regain our winning ways. We had no training last week which I believe was the main reason for the loss to IPRC- Kigali.” The 23-year-old also cautioned the defending champions to shift their focus on the next fixtures, adding that the campaign still has a long way to go. The 2012 Fiba Africa Zone Five champions, Espoir, last suffered a regular season league defeat in 2011, when the league was won by Kigali Basketball Club (KBC). But since then, Jean Bahufite’s team has dominated the local scene, winning three league and playoff titles. Last season, Espoir lost just once, in the game three of the playoffs finals series against KBC.

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Poor preps led to Espoir’s loss, says Karekezi