Friday, March 7 Espoir 62-64 UGB Tigers 81-74 Orion REG 61-64 APR APR Basketball club avoided a late upset in a nail-biting overtime win over Rwanda Energy Group (REG) 64-61 on Friday night, March 7. The win saw them remain the only undefeated team in the Rwanda Basketball League. REG showed some moments a brilliance early on and took the first quarter 12-6 as they looked to stop APR who went into the game without key players like Aliou Diarra, Adonis Filer, Israel Otobo, Chris Ruta and Osborne Shema who all missed the game through injuries. However, the lions roared back to claim the second 23-18, reducing their rivals’ lead to just one point before the pair headed into halftime break. Returning for the second half, REG continued to put up a fight, taking the third quarter 12-8, but APR overcame the deficit and won the fourth quarter. They were leading 27-17 with four seconds to play before point guard Jean-Jacques Boissy gave his side a lifeline when he scored a three-point buzzer to tie the game at 59-59 and force the game into overtime. ALSO READ:Basketball: Injury stricken APR squares off with REG in league REG almost snatched the win but it was their former stars Antino Jackson, Jean Jacques Wilson Nshobozwabyosenumukiza and Axel Mpoyo who punished them, as the army side ultimately won the game after the overtime which they claimed 5-2. Antino scored a game high 18 points and 4 rebounds, while Nshobozwa and Mpoyo added 15 and 11 points respectively. Two more games were played earlier on Friday. UGB beat Espoir 64-62 while Tigers beat Orion 81-74. APR stayed top of the league with 14 points, REG are in second place with 13 points while UGB are third with 9 points.
