Patriots overcome IPRC-South to stay in pole position

Saturday APR 90-95 UGB30-Plus 34-152 REGIPRC-South 72-75 PatriotsCSK 33-100 Espoir WomenIPRC-South 53-42 UR-CASS Basketball regular season league defending champions Patriots continued their hunt for a second title after overcoming one of their closest challengers IPRC-South in a closely-contested game played on Saturday in Huye. Patriots defeated the reigning playoffs winners 75-72 in overtime to remain on top of the league table after 11 games, ahead of debutants Rwanda Energy Group (REG), who overwhelmed 30-Plus 152-34 at Cercle Sportif de Kigali court in Rugunga. Charles Mushumba’s IPRC-South came into the game determined to hand Patriots a second league loss, and took the opening two quarters;13-11 and 22-16 to go into first half break leading 35-27. However, the champions returned from the break a much different side and went on to dominate the third and fourth quarters 19-6 and 20-15 respectively to tie the score 61-61 at the end of normal time. Five minutes of overtime were added and Patriots led by Aristide Mugabe and Elie Kaje, gave the Kagugu-based side the last laugh winning it 14-11 to wrap up the game 75-72. Mugabe finished with a game high 18 points while Kaje contributed 14 points. Victory means that Patriots have defeated IPRC-South twice this season having won the first round game 84-78. In other games, title hopefuls REG run riot over lowly 30-Plus defeating them 152-34 while former champions Espoir thrashed CSK 100-33 and United Generation Basketball Club (UGB) stunned APR 95-90. Patriots remain top of the league table with 21 points, two points ahead of second-placed REG, who have however played one game less, while Espoir are third, also at 19 points. 30-Plus and CSK occupy the bottom two places with 11 and 10 points respectively. In the women league, IPRC-South beat University of Rwanda, College of Arts and Social Sciences (UR-CASS) 53-42.editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Patriots overcome IPRC-South to stay in pole position