Wednesday, March 5 APR 86-79 Espoir AZOMCO 89-96 Tigers REG 72-71 Kepler Tigers basketball club registered their second win of the season in the domestic league after beating AZOMCO 96-89 on Wednesday, March 5 at Petit Stade. Henry Mwinuka’s side last won a game on January 24, when they beat Espoir 80-76 in the opening game in the Rwanda Basketball League. Tigers has since been struggling but they returned on Wednesday with an improved level of performance. They started brilliantly and took the first quarter 31-23 before AZOMCO responded quickly to claim the second quarter 26-22, reducing the deficit to four points. Tigers were leading with 53- 49 at the break. Center Pitchou Manga got his side up and firing, as they dominated the second half. They won the third quarter 29-11, opening up a 22-point lead going into the fourth and final quarter. AZOMCO came back into the final quarter looking very organized defensively and quick going forward. Their tactical change was instrumental to claiming the final quarter 29-14 but it was too late for them to win the game. Manga Scored a game high 33 points, added 16 rebounds while other big contributors to Tiger’s win on Wednesday were Shakir Smith and Pascal Niyonkuru who scored 18 and 13 points respectively. Damaria Franklin was AZOMCO’s top-scorer with 26 points. In other game played on Wednesday, APR maintained their unbeaten run by beating Espoir 86-79 while Rwanda Energy Group (REG) avoid Kepler’s upset in a nail-biting 72-71 thrilling win.
