A’Darius Lamar Pegues trained with his new teammates at Patriots Basketball Club on Tuesday night at Amahoro Stadium after penning his short-spell deal with the Rwandan champions.

The American-born power forward arrived in the country on Monday.

The former Uganda international A’Darius – according to Brian Kirungi, the club’s president – was signed to help Patriots through the second and final round of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) qualifiers, whose Group H games will be held in Kigali next month.

"He (A’Darius) is the latest addition to our squad, and we couldn’t be happier. He is a player with proven quality and experience,” said Kirungi.

Rwanda was late last month confirmed as one of the two countries to host games of the final BAL qualifiers, along with Cameroon. The development followed Patriots’ imposing performance during the first round in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where they finished top in Group D.

For the Patriots to earn a spot in the inaugural BAL tournament, which tips off in March 2020, they will need to finish among the top 3 teams in Group H.

Group H teams:

Patriots (Rwanda), City Oilers (Uganda), KPA (Kenya), Ferroviario de Maputo (Mozambique), GNBC (Madagascar), UNZA Pacers (Zambia), JKT (Tanzania) and South Sudan’s Cobra.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com