After concluding the first round of the local league on a high, Dean Murray and his Rwanda Energy Group (REG) side now have their focus turned on the Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2023 which resumes on March 11 when teams compete in the Sahara Conference that will take place in Dakar, Senegal. The team returns to the BAL camp in good spirits after Friday’s 83-69 convincing victory over Patriots saw them finish the first round of the domestic league sitting at the summit of the table with 21 points. REG currently camp at Centric Hotel in Kigali and are training twice a day at BK Arena. Former club star man Jean Jacques Wilson Nshobozwabyosenumukiza is one of the players who joined the team whose entire roster is now together after the first round for the league concluded. Murray will be expecting to put his men at the highest pace before the team leaves the country for Dakar on March 6. REG are for the second time in a row playing the Sahara Conference group phase that they topped last season, ahead of eventual BAL champions US Monastir while the Rwandan representatives faltered and surprisingly lost to Cameroon's FAP in the playoffs. Murray’s warriors will begin their Sahara Conference campaign with Nigeria’s Kwara Falcons in opening game that will take place on March 12. The Rwandan representatives are placed in same BAL Conference alongside US Monastir, Kwara Falcons (Nigeria), Abidjan Basket Club (Côte d'Ivoire), host club AS Douanes (Senegal) and Stade Malien (Mali). Provisional squad Pascal Niyonkuru, Prince Muhizi, Beleck Bell Engelbert, Pitchou Manga, Ntore Habimana, Adonis Filer, Dieudonne Ndizeye, Olivier Shyaka, Steven Hagumintwari, Jean Jacques Wilson Nshobozwabyosenumukiza, Cleveland Thomas, Jean de Dieu Umuhoza and Delwan Graham.
