13 November 2007
RWANDA : APR Retains Gisembe Title
By Julius Mbaraga
Kigali
APR basketball club recovered some confidence ahead of this year's All Africa Club Championship after ousting rivals Espoir in the final of the 2007 Gisembe Memorial tournament on Sunday.
Having seen off Burundi's Urunani 55-49 at the preliminary stage, the defending champions had a fascinating game against bitter rivals and tournament organizers Espoir by a three points' margin 74-71.
The defending champions initially found it hard to deal with Espoir's new signing Norman Blick from Uganda who easily manoeuvred his way through the APR defence with his amazing dribbling skills. However, Cliff Owuor was lifted by his own new signing Foster Mugisha who scored a game high 21 points.
APR's captain Chalichali Kimanuka contributed to his team's victory with his a massive 19 points, four rebounds and two assists. "It was very important for us to win this tournament. We needed this to boast our confidence ahead of the All Africa Club Championships," Owuor excitedly said. "We missed out on the national league title but this is a sign that we are back to our winning ways," the Kenyan continued.
Rwanda National University (UNR) toppled APR 70-62 to lift the ladies' trophy.
Preliminaries
APR 55 Urunani 49
Espoir 54 Dynamo 51
Finals
APR 74-71 Espoir (Men)
UNR 70-62 APR (Women)
Kigali
APR basketball club recovered some confidence ahead of this year's All Africa Club Championship after ousting rivals Espoir in the final of the 2007 Gisembe Memorial tournament on Sunday.
Having seen off Burundi's Urunani 55-49 at the preliminary stage, the defending champions had a fascinating game against bitter rivals and tournament organizers Espoir by a three points' margin 74-71.
The defending champions initially found it hard to deal with Espoir's new signing Norman Blick from Uganda who easily manoeuvred his way through the APR defence with his amazing dribbling skills. However, Cliff Owuor was lifted by his own new signing Foster Mugisha who scored a game high 21 points.
APR's captain Chalichali Kimanuka contributed to his team's victory with his a massive 19 points, four rebounds and two assists. "It was very important for us to win this tournament. We needed this to boast our confidence ahead of the All Africa Club Championships," Owuor excitedly said. "We missed out on the national league title but this is a sign that we are back to our winning ways," the Kenyan continued.
Rwanda National University (UNR) toppled APR 70-62 to lift the ladies' trophy.
Preliminaries
APR 55 Urunani 49
Espoir 54 Dynamo 51
Finals
APR 74-71 Espoir (Men)
UNR 70-62 APR (Women)
# posted by afrbk : 11:55
