Basketball in Africa

men’s league
Sunday
Rusizi 101-43 UR-CE
APR 50-56 IPRC-Kigali
Saturday
UR-Huye 74-55 UR-CE
UGB 56-40 30Plus
Friday
Espoir 68-58 APR
DEFENDING champions Espoir Basketball Club continued their dominancy in the national basketball league as they registered a 10-point gap against APR to maintain the lead at the summit of the standings over the weekend.
They registered a 68-58 win over rivals APR on Saturday to move to 24 points in 12 matches played this season.
Closest arch rivals CSK who never played over the weekend are joint second with APR on 23 points. However APR has played two matches more than Espoir and CSK. UR-Huye won their fourth game of the season, beating UR-CE 74-55 while United Generation Basketball defeated 30 Plus 56-40 on Saturday.
On Sunday, Rusizi thrashed UR-CE 101-43 as APR beat IPRC-Kigali 50-56.
UGB stand fourth on the ladder with 21 points in 13 matches; followed by IPRC-Kigali in fifth position with 20 points.
Gisenyi and UR-CE are placed bottom of the standings with 15 and 14 points after playing 15 and 14 matches respectively this season. The Nyamirambo-based club, Espoir who have won the league and playoffs titles for the past two consecutive seasons are keen to maintain the dominancy according to head coach Jean Bahufite.
Espoir set the record of winning the league title three times in a row from 2003 to 2005 and that was equaled by their archrivals APR in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
The reigning league and playoff champions are planning to finish the league with an unbeaten run.