Basketball in Africa

By Timothy Muvunyi

Heroes’ basketball tourney

Finals

Espoir 59-89 APR (men)
UNR 56-62 APR (women)

Preliminary results

KIE 53 -107 APR
UGB 68-78 Espoir
KIE 55-59 UNR
UGB 77-83 CSK
UNR 48-57 APR

APR continued to prove that they are untouchable on the local scene after defending their Heroes basketball title.

The indomitable lions, who will be gunning for an unprecedented third successive league title this year, outplayed old rivals Espoir in Sunday’s final 89-59.

Presta Malemba led APR’s scoring wheels with 18 points but the club’s head coach Cliff Owuor reserved particular praise for Blaise Nikobahoze and new signing Aboubacar Barame.

“Barame and Nikobahoze were outstanding today. They complemented each other so well,” the former Kenyan international said.

En route the final, the army side made light work of Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) 107-53 but struggled against National University of Rwanda (UNR) 57-48 in a low scoring game.

The varsity side walked away with a consolation third-place medal after outscoring CSK 75-65.
In the women final, APR dislodged UNR 62-56.