Kepler’s new Basketball court hosts the first ever league game to mark the start of the 2022 Rwanda Basketball League Playoffs series. The event was graced by the attendance of H.E Jeannette Kagame, the first lady of Rwanda.
August 26, 2022, the Rwanda Basketball League playoffs semi-finals tipped off in both women’s and men’s categories. At Kepler campus in the Kinyinya sector, APR Women Basketball took on RP-IPRC Huye before REG BBC rubbed shoulders with APR BBC in arguably the most anticipated matchup of Friday night but ended in a one-sided result.
In the first game, APR WBBC started off strong and took the lead early to end the first period with 21-9 against former champions, RP-IPRC Huye. The army side kept the momentum and went into the break with 41-26.
In the second half, the Fiston Shema-coached side fought back to cut the deficit but the gap was huge. They outscored APR (19-19, 11-10) and the game ended 69-56 in favor of APR WBBC. Betty Kalanga Tshinyangu was unstoppable as she led the scorers with 28 points, 13-16 FG.
On the side of IPRC Huye, young Violette Uwimpuhwe come off the bench to score a team-high 20-points in 26 minutes spent on the court. The 18-year-old girl’s improvement in this season is remarkable.
In the men’s game, Cameroon-born forward, Beleck Bell dropped 19 points to help the Rwanda Energy Group Basketball team take the lead in the best-of-three playoff series against APR BBC.
REG BBC won all four quarters and led by as many as 38 to grab an easy win. (16-14, 28-12, 15-6, 26-15) to make it 85-47. The score was tight in the first quarter before Cleveland Thomas arrived at the venue late to change the game for good and forever.
The American shooting guard scored 11 points including 3-pointers in 5 attempts. He played 17 minutes, however, Cliff Owuor seemed to have no solutions to stop him.
Elsewhere at Nyandungu, REG Women BBC defeated The Hoops Rwanda 71-47 while Patriots thrashed Tigers BBC 91-45.
All the eight teams in both categories will take to the floor on Sunday for a second game. all the games will take place at Kepler Campus except the RP-IPRC Huye vs APR WBBC matchup slated in IPRC Court, Huye district.
The RBNL finals will run from September 7-16 in the expected jam-packed BK Arena.
Photos Credit: Innocent SHEMA
