Basketball in Africa

Saturday
Men
UR- CASS 41-63 Patriots
Espoir 98-65 IPRC- Kigali
Women
Ubumwe 72-76 IPRC- South
UR- Huye 53-51 The Hoops

Patriots Basketball Club overcame University of Rwanda’s College of Arts and Social Sciences (UR- CASS), on Saturday, to increase their win ratio to 3-0 this season.
In a fully packed gymnasium of the university side in Huye District, title hopeful Patriots, who finished second, both in regular league and play-off games last season, responded well to a shaky start to win 63-41 against Charles Mushumba’s UR- CASS.
The first quarter ended 12-12 before the hosts UR- CASS grabbed a narrow 16-14 win in the second quarter to go into half-time with a 28-26 lead.
Henry Mwinuka’s Patriots turned tables up to easily win the third quarter 22-08 before claiming the final quarter by 15-13 for a full-time 63-41 emphatic victory.
UR- CASS power-forward Edmond Joie Igabe scored a game high 19 points but one-man efforts were not enough to save the day for the Huye-based side.
Point-guard Ali Kazingufu Kubwimana and forward Patrick Habyarimana scored 14 points each for Patriots.
In a post-match interview, Patriots’ Tanzanian-born coach Mwinuka told Times Sport that his side started the game a bit slow but later adjusted to eventually win the tie.
“That is the important thing,” he said.
Elsewhere, four-time champions Espoir humiliated Albert Buhake’s IPRC- Kigali in a 98-65 thriller to equal Patriots’ positive run of 3-0 win ratio.
In the women’s league, it was a day of upsets as former champions Ubumwe were stunned 76-72 by Huye-based IPRC- South while UR- CASS beat Hoops Rwanda 53-51.