Patriots face Ulinzi in FIBA Zone V semis

Today: Semi-finals Men Patriots (Rwa) vs Ulinzi (KEN) 6pm City Oilers vs USIU (KEN) 8pm Women Ubumwe (Rwa) vs UCU (UG) 2pm Wednesday selected results Men: Group A USIU (KEN) 57-71 Patriots Group B Espoir 54-78 City Oilers Rwanda’s Patriots Basketball Club will take on Kenya’s Ulinzi Warriors this evening in the semi-finals of the 2016 FIBA-Africa Zone V Club Championships that is taking place in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. The tournament debutants Patriots stormed the semi-finals with an unbeaten record after winning all their four group games. On Wednesday, they defeated Kenya’s United States International University (USIU) 71-57 to progress as Group A leaders, with 12 points. Inspired by captain Ali Kubwimana, who scored a game high 20 points as well as shooting guards Steven Hagumintwari and Patrick Habiyaremye, who scored 15 points each, Patriots dominated most of the game. Henry Mwinuka’s side took the first and second quarters 15-14, 27-28 but USIU fought back to take the third one before the Rwandan league champions recovered to claim the fourth quarter. As a reward for topping their group, Patriots will face Ulinzi, who finished second in Group B behind Uganda’s City Oilers. The Ugandan side defeated Espoir 78-54 to set up a last four clash against USIU. “ I am very happy that we have achieved our first target, which was to reach the semi-finals, we are playing as a team and I believe we can reach the final though Ulinzi will pose a significant challenge,” Patriots head coach Mwinuka told Times Sport. Meanwhile, Rwanda’s other representative Espoir failed to reach the semi-finals after losing against City Oilers to finish third in the group table. The 2012 champions will now face Uganda Christian University Canons that finished third in Group A, in the fifth-place classification playoff on Friday. In the women category, Ubumwe will play UCU in their final round robin format game hoping for a win that would probably qualify them into the top two and a ticket to this year’s FIBA-Africa Club Championship slated for December in Mozambique. By press time they were due to play their penultimate against Don Bosco Lioness of Tanzania. Rwanda’s sole women representative currently stand in the second position with six points same as third placed-UCU, both behind Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), which has nine points. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

Sports

Patriots face Ulinzi in FIBA Zone V semis