Friday

Patriots vs 30-Plus 6pmREG vs IPRC-South 8pm

Saturday

Espoir vs Rusizi 2pmUGB vs CSK 4pm

Sunday30-Plus vs Rusizi 9am

Women

APR vs The Hoops 11am

Patriots broke off for the festive holiday after beating arch-rivals Espoir. Now, the reigning basketball league champions will be seeking a fourth successive victory when they face struggling 30-Plus on Friday evening at Amahoro Indoor Stadium.

Patriots head coach Henry Mwinuka is confident that his side will make it 4:0 and continue their bid for a second regular season league title, "30-Plaus have not won this season but we cannot afford to take anything for granted and assume we will win easily.”

The Kagugu-based club defeated United Generation Basketball (UGB) 95-34 in the season opener. They are fourth on the table standing with six points after three wins and 89 points.

Mwinuka’s team beat Espoirs (65-51) in their last game before they beat new league entrants and title hopefuls, Rwanda Energy Group (REG) 75-51.

The game will be followed by the clash between IPRC-Kigali and REG at the same venue, starting at 8pm.

REG, under former Espoir coach Jean Bahufite, are sixth in the table, averaging 93 points from two wins against Cercle Sportif Rwanda (CSK) 127-45 and Rusizi 93-35, respectively.

IPRC-Kigali have won all their games, and victory against REG would take them top of the table in case current leaders Espoir fall to Rusizi on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Rwanda Basketball Federation FERWABA has released the fixtures for the national women’s league, which starts on Sunday. The championship will have only five teams, namely: APR, The Hoops, Ubumwe, UR-Huye and Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre (IPRC-South).

editorial@newtimes.co.rw