Hoops: Patriots, APR in pre-season showdown

Today Group A Patriots Vs APR 6pm Sunday: Men Espoir 53-63 30-Plus UGB 51-97 Patriots APR 83-64 IPRC-South IPRC Kigali 79-88 REG Women THEHoops 53-46 APR IPRC-South 65-50 Ubumwe Saturday: Men Patriots 79-65 IPRC-South IPRC-Kigali 78-64 30-Plus IPRC-South 89-70 UGB REG 72-54 Espoir Women IPRC-South 66-39 The Hoops APR 61-49 Ubumwe Patriots and APR will face-off in the final group stage game of this year’s basketball pre-season tournament on Wednesday at Amahoro Indoor Stadium to decide who finishes top in Group A. Both teams won their first two games over the weekend to qualify to the last four, but there is the small matter of who tops the group and avoid a semi-final meeting with Rwanda Energy Group (REG), who are top of Group B. Patriots won against IPRC-South 79-65 IPRC-South on Saturday and beat United Generation Basketball (UGB) 97-51 on Sunday, while APR won 66-36 and 83-64 against UGB and IPRC-South respectively. Patriots head coach Henry Mwinuka says, “We want to win everything around, I am confident in my players; they have already proved what they are capable of in the first two games that we have played in this tournament.” His counterpart, Karim Nkunsi, who replaced Cliff Owuor as APR head coach, told Times Sport that, “This tournament is very important for us, so we’re focused on trying to win it, to boost our confidence going into the new season.” “Patriots are a solid team with valuable experience and good players. However, we won’t be intimidated by anything,” Nkunsi added. The winner of today’s game will face IPRC-Kigali in the semi-final scheduled to be played on Saturday, while the loser, will face pre-tournament favourites and regular season league defending champions, REG. The final will played on Sunday at Amahoro Indoor Stadium court. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Hoops: Patriots, APR in pre-season showdown