Saturday Finals Boys Green Hills 54-28 Sonrise Girls ADEGI 51-39 ISF Nyamasheke Green Hills Academy and ADEGI Gituza are winners of the inaugural youth basketball championship – also known as Junior NBA Rwanda League. Green Hills Academy, based in Gasabo District, claimed the boys’ league title after dominating Musanze-based Sonrise 54-28 in the final at Amahoro Indoor Stadium on Saturday, while ADEGI Gituza beat ISF Nyamasheke 51-39 to lift the title in girls’ category. The finals event attracted the NBA Africa Managing Director, Amadou Gallo Fall, and Obinna Ralph Ekezie, a Nigerian legend who played for different teams in the famous National Basketball Association (NBA) for four seasons. In the boys’ final, Green Hills Academy started the game the better side, taking the first quarter 9-5 and the second one 14-13 to go into half-time with a promising 23-18 lead. In second half, it was Albert Buhake’s Green Hills that made matters worse for the Musanze-based side as they effortlessly took the third quarter 15-8 before rounding off with a 14-2 fourth quarter win. In the ladies category, ADEGI Gituza overpowered ISF Nyamasheke in all quarters; 16-12, 11-7, 12-5 and 26-16, respectively. Sano Rutatika, from Green Hills Academy, and Hope Nyiramugisha, from ADEGI Gituza, were awarded as the Most Valuable Players (MVP).The inaugural edition of what is expected to be an annual league featured 30 teams from schools across Rwanda competing in Eastern and Western Conferences, with each representing one of the 30 NBA teams and receiving corresponding NBA team-branded t-shirts for their games. Junior NBA, the league’s global youth basketball participation programme for boys and girls, teaches the fundamental skills as well as the core values of the game at the grassroots level in an effort to help grow and improve the youth basketball experience for players, coaches and parents. The Jr. NBA Rwanda League is the 13th of its kind in Africa and builds on similar initiatives in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
