BEVERLY HILLS, May 17, (THEWILL) – For all their firepower and the talent behind the team, Nigeria’s Rivers Hoopers, the country’s representatives at the maiden continental club basketball competition, Basketball Africa League (BAL) lost to the host’s club, the Patriots Basketball Club of Rwanda, in Sunday’s inaugural fixture.
Although the honour of being the first ever to score in the opening of the BAL at the Kigali Arena belonged to the Hoopers’ Ben Uzoh, the veteran D’Tigers and former NBA point guard, the Patriots outscored them 83-60 to emphatically stamp their authority in the competition from the get go.
The Patriots aggression in defense was a niggling obstruction to Uzoh’s Hoopers throughout the game. It effectively blunted out the promising start that the Rivers State team commenced their game with as they engaged in struggle after struggle to make their way to the opponent’s rim.
The compact nature of the Patriots defensive superiority was enhanced all the more by FIBA AfroBasket record-setter Jean Jacques Wilson Nshobozwabyosenumukiza, who came off the bench to close down much of the advances towards the net that the Hoopers attempted.
In the February qualifying matches for the FIBA AfroBasket, Nshobozwabyosenumukiza, whose long surname means “I am enabled by God in everything”, featured prominently for hosts Rwanda, in Group D, which had Nigeria’s D’Tigers that won the group with a 100% record, Mali and South Sudan.
In Rwanda’s game against South Sudan, the point guard registered 14 steals, a feat that incredibly beat a 44-year-old world record of 11 steals set by NBA player Larry Kenon in 1976 and later equaled by Kendall Gill in 1999.
The Patriots were also helped by the introduction of Prince Ibeh, who was instrumental in their recovery from the 18-17 end of the first quarter. At the restart, Ibeh put out dunk after dunk to give the Rwandans a resounding head start. Their 13-0 lead immediately ceded control over to the hosts and created a yawning gap, up to 29 points at one time, in the score board from which the Hoopers never truly recovered.
Ibeh’s personal score of 11 points plus 11 rebounds and three blocked shots all combined with the overall scoring lead of Costner Brandon, who reached 20 points to take the game away from the Nigerian side even with the herculean effort of Hoopers’ Taren Sullivan who scored 15 points.
The 25 year old Sullivan, one of two American professional basketballers signed by the Hoopers in April for the BAL, is a small forward who most recently played for Stockton Kings and Erie BayHawks in NBA G-League. The Ohio native averaged 7.7PPG, 4RPG in 30 games played in the 2019/2020 season.
As for the other sensation of the African competition, the American rapper, J Cole, who set the media abuzz when he signed to represent the Patriots, scored three points, and contributed two assists and three rebounds in the debut game of his professional career.
The Rivers State team will carry the lessons from the opening loss to their clash with Tunisian champions US Monastir when they return to action on Wednesday in Group A of the BAL while the Patriots resume their campaign a day earlier for a comfortable tie against a team they beat twice in the BAL Qualifiers, Madagascar’s GNBC.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
