Patriots turn focus to hoops playoffs title

Friday Men Semi-finals: Game 1 Patriots vs IPRC-Kigali 7pm Saturday Men Espoir vs IPRC-South 6pm Women 3rd place The Hoops vs IPRC-South 2pm Finals: Game 1 APR vs Ubumwe 4pm After claiming a first regular league title, Patriots Basketball Club have turned attention to winning the play-offs title that begins this Friday at Amahoro indoor stadium. Fresh from clinching their maiden Gisembe memorial regional crown at the weekend, beating DR Congo’s Boundess 66-64 in final at Amahoro indoor stadium, Henry Mwinuka has challenged his men to complete a historic treble. “We’re on track to win a treble, and complete what would be an unbelievable campaign for us, so the boys know what is at stake, our target this season was to win at least three titles,” the Tanzania-born trainer told Times Sport on Wednesday. Mwinuka is enjoying his first season with the Kagugu-based side after replacing Cyrille Kalima, who resigned in December. “This year has been a success for the whole club, and we want to ensure that we end it on a high by winning the playoffs,” he added The top four teams in the men’s category will battle for honors in the best-of-five semi-finals series while the women league, is heading to the best-of-three finals series and third-place playoffs. Patriots will face IPRC-Kigali, who finished fourth in the regular season and the winner will lock horns with the winner from the other semi-final between league first runner-up Espoir and IPRC-South, who finished third. Meanwhile, in the women league, APR will face off Ubumwe in the finals while The Hoops Rwanda will battle it out with IPRC-South in the third-place playoffs. Espoir are the defending champions of the men’s playoffs competition after defeating Patriots 3-1 in the best-of-five finals series last year while in the women’s league, nine-time league champions APR won the playoffs crown after defeating Ubumwe 3-1. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Patriots turn focus to hoops playoffs title