Basketball in Africa

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Sunday
Espoir 65-73 IPRC- Kigali
UGB 79-46 UR- CoE
Rusizi     64-68     IPRC-South
APR         78-59     CSK
Patriots    80-55     KBC
Saturday      
Patriots 62-67 UGB
30-Plus 56-50 UR-CASS
Women
The Hoops Rwanda 55-46 IPRC-South
APR     55-36     UR-CASS
Friday (Men)
APR                        83-54     UR-CASS

IPRC – Kigali yesterday defeated Espoir 73-65 in the national basketball league to become the first team to beat three-time reigning champions Espoir in regular season on Sunday at the University of Rwanda’s College of Technology basketball courts.
Steve Havugintwari and Dieudonne Ndizeye combined to score 52 points for IPRC- Kigali with 27 from Havugintwa and 25 from Ndizeye respectively.
IPRC - Kigali head coach Albert Buhake praised his team’s strong mentality and hard work after the win.
“I am proud of my players, not only because of the win but because we have made history by beating Espoir after such a long time. This gives the team confidence that they will perform well this season,” Buhake told Times sport.
Meanwhile Huye-based IPRC- South point guard, Yesman Bushiri scored 25 points to help his team defeat Rusizi 68-64 in Rusizi.
The league newcomers, IPRC-South recovered from last weekend’s 79-65 defeat to reigning champions Espoir.
Rusizi, who won their first two games against University of Rwanda College of Education (UR-CoE) and CSK last weekend, were booed by their fans following yesterday’s loss.
Seven-time champions APR won their two weekend games, beating University of Rwanda’s College of Arts and Social Sciences (UR- CASS) 83-54 on Friday and Cercle Sportif de Kigali (CSK) 78-59 on Sunday respectively.
While Patriots BC had their confidence dented after a 62-67 loss against United Basketball Generation (UGB) on Saturday at UR-TECH courts but recovered to beat 2011 champions, Kigali Basketball Club (KBC) 80-55 on Sunday.
In the women’s league, The Hoops Rwanda beat IPRC-South 55-46 while former champions APR overcame UR- CASS 55-36 on Saturday.