Marine see off CSK

Play-offs ResultsDay one Marine 65-64 CSKAPR 20-00 Rusizi (walk-over)UNR 33-51 APR (ladies)Day twoMarine 68-67 CSKAPR 20-00 Rusizi (walk-over)UNR 51-65 APR (ladies) Marine will play APR in this year’s play-offs final after hard-fought wins over CSK in the best of three play-off series held at the NPC Gymnasium. Coming off a narrow 65-64 on Saturday, the defending champions still had to dig deep before capping up another dramatic 68-67 win yesterday to send the Kigali-based club packing. At the start, CSK seemed the stronger side after taking a 22-10 lead but Marine made a swift recovery in the second quarter narrowing that gap to one point (32-33) at the interval. In the third quarter, Marine dominated proceedings to take a two-point lead (50-48). However, in the fourth quarter, CSK threatened to kill off the game with four quick points but Albert Rukundo lifted Marine back into the lead with a spectacular lay up in the dying seconds of the game. “We are happy to be in the final. We struggled earlier on but got ourselves back in the game. We now have to concentrate on the final,” Marine’s coach Janvier Kamanzi said. In the other play-off tie, APR’s progress into the final was over shadowed by Rusizi’s absence. It was the first time in the history of Rwandan basketball that a club failed to take part in the play-offs and it left Cliff Owuor and many basketball fans furious. “We needed to play these games before getting into the final,” Owuor fumed. In the ladies’ section, APR are on course of defending their title after a strong start in the best of five play-offs’ final. APR registered a 51-33 win over the National University of Rwanda (UNR) on Saturday before rounding it off with yet another convincing 65-51 win yesterday. The defending champions now need one more win to retain the title. Ends

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Marine see off CSK