Rivers Hoopers, at the weekend, became the first team from the Sahara Conference to qualify for the Basketball Africa League (BAL) playoffs when they defeated Rwanda’s Armée Patriotique Rwandaise (APR) 78-71 in the first-ever BAL double-overtime game.
The BAL Playoffs are set to tip off at BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda on May 24.
Five Hoopers players scored in double digits with Devine Eke (18 points, 18 rebounds) and Peter Olisemeka (17 points, 19 rebounds) dominating the boards as well. Will Perry added 11 points and seven assists in a low-scoring affair in which both teams shot less than 40 per cent from the floor.
Jean Jacques Nshobozwabyosenumukiza led APR with 16 points and five rebounds, while Dario Hunt finished with 15 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists.
Going into yesterday’s matchups, APR, currently second in the Sahara Conference, were expected to secure a postseason berth against Senegal’s AS Douanes (fourth place with two wins and three losses).
In the second game of the day, the 2022 BAL champions, Tunisia’s US Monastir kept their playoff hopes alive, defeating AS Douanes 75-69 and getting their second straight win in the competition. This was a turnaround for the Tunisian champions, who started the Sahara Conference from three straight defeats, but now stand one win away from the postseason.
Yesterday, Rivers Hoopers took on US Monastir, while AS Douanes confronted APR, as AS Douanes, US Monastir and APR competed for the last two playoff spots .
