USIU halt Ubumwe’s FIBA Zone V title hopes

TodayISIU (KEN) vs Ubumwe (Rwa) 8:00am Monday selected results Men: Group APatriots (Rwa) 67-45 National Eng. (S. Sudan) Group BEspoir (Rwa) 71-95 Ulinzi (KEN) Tuesday WomenUbumwe 75-81 USIU RWANDA’S Ubumwe Basketball Club suffered a disappointing defeat yesterday at the hands of Kenya’s United States International University (USIU) in the ongoing FIBA-Africa Zone V club championship in Tanzania. In a closely contested game full of aggressiveness, Rwanda’s sole representatives in the women category Ubumwe kicked off the game visibly in control, taking the first quarter 20-17 before USIU closed the gap at the end of the second quarter 38-37. In the second half, USIU strongly came back into the game overpowering coach Jacques Bahigye’s girls to take the third quarter with a difference of four points 55-51. USIU through their spectacular shooting guard Sara Ramadhan (38 points) dominated Ubumwe in the final hence winning the game 81-74. Ubumwe’s Ines Nezerwa contributed 34 points for her side followed by Sandra Kantore who scored 15 points. “It is a very disappointing result, we played very well in the first two quarters and lost intensity and concentration in the final two quarters mainly because of tiredness since we are playing every day, of course a strong team like USIU takes such advantage and wins the game,” said coach Bahigye in an interview with Times Sport after the game. “However, we still have two games to go and we have to forget this one and focus on our next games,” he added. Today, Ubumwe will play Don Bosco Lioness from Tanzania before ending their round robin campaign of seven teams against UCU from Uganda on Thursday. The top two teams in this category will automatically play the final on Friday. In the men’s category, Debutants Patriots Basketball Club on Monday became Rwanda’s first team to advance to the semi-finals of the ongoing FIBA-Africa Zone V Club Championship that is taking place in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania after overcoming South Sudan’s National Engineering in their penultimate group A game. Henry Mwinuka’s side won the game taking the lead in all four quarters 13-10, 20-12, 55-32 and 67-45 with the help of team captain Ali Kazingufu Kubwimana who scored the game’s high 12 points. Meanwhile today, the men’s group stage games are on with qualified unbeaten Patriots in Group A playing USIU from Kenya, seeking a win to finish on top while Espoir lock horns with City Oilers of Uganda in a must win game to advance to the semi-finals. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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USIU halt Ubumwe’s FIBA Zone V title hopes