APR basketball club finished the first round of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2025 Nile Conference in Kigali with a 2-1 record. After beating Kenya’s Nairobi City Thunder (NCT) and South Africa’s Made By Basketball (MBB) in their two opening games, the Rwandan champions suffered a set-back by losing the third game 68-90 to Libyan giants Al Ahli Tripoli on Tuesday, May 20. As it stands, Al Ahli SC top the conference ranking with a 3-0 record after winning all their three first round matches. APR follow with a 2-1 record while MBB are third with a 1-2 win ratio with NCT finding themselves at the bottom with a 0-3 record. ALSO READ: BAL 2025: Boissy drops 27 points as APR suffer first Conference loss James Maye Jr’s side begins the second round of the Nile Conference on Thursday, May 22, where they will have rematches against each of their three opponents. They will take on MBB on Thursday May 22, then Al Ahli Tripoli on May 24 and lastly, NCT on May 25. What do APR need to do to qualify? For now, APR are only required to win one game to qualify. Beating MBB would see them secure a ticket to Pretoria, South Africa, even if they lose the rest of the games against Al Ahli Tripoli and Nairobi City Thunder. Now, Al Ahli Tripoli stand out one of the favourites to lead the Nile conference while beating MBB and Nairobi City Thunder again would see them finish in second place. In the other conferences that played earlier (Kalahari and Sahara), the teams that already sealed tickets for the playoffs are US Monastir, Petro de Luanda, Kriol Star from Sahara conference, while Al Ittihad Alexandria, and Rivers Hoopers qualified from Kalahari Conference.
