Basketball in Africa

Espoir Basketball Club has retained the Playoff title after beating former champion Kigali Basketball Club in Game Four of the best of five finals played yesterday at Amahoro indoor stadium. The game ended 76-65 in favour of Espoir.
Although KBC managed to end Espoir’s unbeaten run stretching from the start of last season in Game Three on Saturday, it was too little too late to deny Jean Bahufite’s team from winning a second successive title. They had already won the regular season title.
Former KBC player Olivier Shyaka hurt his old employers after scoring 18 points for Espoir; last season’s MTVP Aristide Mugabe scored 12, while Lionel Hakizimana added 11 points.
Patrick Buzangu scored a game high 20 points for the 2011 champions KBC, Ali Kubwimana scored 16 points, Fiston Muhire scored 9 points, while Mike Buzangu was restricted to just seven points.
“We are happy to win the game and the title, we wanted to end the season unbeaten once again but this is sport, you can’t determine the outcome all the time,” Bahufite told Times Sport.
After winning Game One and Two on Wednesday and Friday 77-49 and 76-59 respectively, Espoir lost Game Three on Saturday 61-59 to force the finals into Game Four.
In the battle for third place, former league champions APR beat Rusizi 2-0 in the best of three finals. Clif Owuor’s side won 69-64 in Game One on Saturday and 55-46 in Game two on Sunday.

In the women category, defending champions, APR beat RAPP 67-41 in Game Three of the best of five Play-off finals to retain the title 3-0.