American point guard Obadiah Noel has rejoined APR Basketball Club as the team completed its roster for the upcoming Basketball Africa League (BAL) Nile Conference which tips off in Kigali on Saturday, May 17. Noel returns to the club he played for during the 2024 season before returning to the United States after sustaining an injury during the BAL 2024 Sahara Conference in Dakar, Senegal. He is among four new players featuring in APR’s final roster for the Nile Conference. Others include Swiss-based Rwandan forwards Dylan Schommer and Sano Rutatika, as well as American small forward Dane Miller Jr. The new players come in to fill the void left by Osborn Shema and Nobel Boungou, who face lengthy spells on the side-lines through injuries they suffered in April during the 2025 basketball Genocide Memorial Tournament. Scans confirmed that Shema, 27, tore his ACL and is expected to be out for six to nine months, while Boungou, 36, tore his Achilles tendon and will be out for eight-12 months. Noel, 25, nicknamed “Mutabazi” for his heroics during BAL 2024, including a dramatic buzzer-beater that sealed victory over US Monastir, is a dynamic guard known for his strong offensive and defensive capabil ities. Standing at 1.93 meters, Noel brings top-tier experience from the NBA G League, where he played for teams such as the Indiana Mad Ants and the Westchester Knicks. Schommer, 27, is also a versatile 2.01-meter Rwandan player based in Switzerland. He can operate both as a forward and a center and has represented Rwanda at international level, with notable appearances in the FIBA AfroBasket championship. Meanwhile, Miller Jr. is expected to add experience to the squad. The 35-year-old small forward played professionally in the United States, Asia, and Africa, and featured in the 2023 BAL season with Uganda’s City Oilers. Rutatika is an alumnus of the NBA Africa Academy in Senegal. The 21-year-old power forward represented Rwanda at various youth levels, including captaining the U16 and U-18 national teams. APR were placed in the Nile Conference alongside Libya’s Al Ahli Tripoli, South Africa’s Made by Basketball, and Kenya’s Nairobi City Thunder. The conference games will run from May 17 through May 25 at BK Arena. In general, BAL 2025 regular season is divided into three conferences- the Nile Conference, the Sahara Conference, and the Kalahari Conference. Each conference had four teams. The first two conferences, Kalahari and Sahara, have already played, and now the teams competing in Nile Conference will arrive in Kigali this coming week to battle for two or three spots available for the playoffs and finals which will take place in Pretoria, South Africa in June.
