Basketball in Africa

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After sustaining three major injuries at the local Genocide Memorial tournament (GMT) a fortnight ago, APR Basketball Club has expressed fears ahead of their Playoffs’ clash against the in-form Patriots BBC next month.
Team captain and small forward Parfait Ishimwe, point guard Pascal Niyonkuru and forward Ally Ruzigande all suffered ankle injuries and their absence will limit their chances to the finals, according to head coach Cliff Owuor.
Newcomers Patriots, who enjoyed their maiden season in the national league beat former champions APR in both the first and return-leg matches and should they, meet again in the playoffs semi-finals, extending the dominance is the target according to tactician Cyrille Kalima.
The seven-time league champions APR need to win their final league game against struggling 30 Plus on June 28 to seal the third place on the table standings to set up a berth against Patriots who already secured second position behind regular season champions Espoir.
APR and Cercle Sportif de Kigali (CSK) both have 29 points from 17 games but the military side ranks third courtesy of a better point average (points scored over points conceded).
According to the rules, champions will be up against the fourth-placed team while first and second runners-up battle it out in the best of three semi-finals and the winners face off in a best-of-five series, according to basketball association’s (FERWABA) technical director Didier Shema Maboko.
Meanwhile, CSK play their final league match today against IPRC- Kigali at 6pm at Amahoro stadium. The latter lost 61-73 to IPRC- South over the weekend and will be facing mighty Espoir on June 28 at Amahoro stadium in the final league match of the season.
Espoir and Ubumwe basketball club are the defending league champions in the men’s and women’s categories respectively.
Full table
Team           GP      W       L          PTS
Espoir 17 16 01 33
Patriots 18 14 04 32
APR 17 12 05 29
CSK 17 12 05 29
IPRC- South 18 10 08 28
IPRC- Kigali 16 09 07 25
Rusizi 18 06 12 25
UR- CASS 18 05 13 23
30- Plus 17 02 15 19
UR- CoE 17 01 16 18