In a way to tip-off the Rwanda Basketball League Playoff-Finals in style, Marcus Christopher Crawford took care of business with 27 points and 10 rebounds, as Patriots defeated the defending champions 75-70 and took a 1-0 lead in best-of-five series.
Wednesday, September 7, 2022 in BK Arena, Rwanda Energy Group Basketball team continues the quest to defend the league title. However, They have a serious mountain to climb in this serie as their opponent may just be too good to allow that to happen.
With Manga Pitchou back in Roster, REG BBC started well in the first two quarters, leading Patriots by 9 points at the break (23-17, 20-17). Nevertheless, the electricians hadn’t witnessed the real Crawford yet.
With the crowd’s help, Crawford and Patriots came out of the locker room with an imperial domination to close the gap to three points, 61-58. In the last 10 minutes of game, Patriots with the same energy completed a comeback and won the game 75-70. Patriots now leads 1-0 in the best-of-five series.
Patriots’ new guard, Marcus Christopher Crawford came up big to drop a monster double-double performance of 27 points and grabbed 10 boards. He poured in 5 three-pointers in 11 attempts and dished out 2 assists to his teammates. Steven Hagumintwari and Kenneth Gasana contributed 18 and 13 points respectively.
On the side of REG BBC, Adonis Filer (17), Manga Pitchou (11) and Jean Jacques Nshobozwabyosenumukiza (14) scored in double-digits.
For the Rwanda Basketball League, Crawford becomes the first player ever who has featured in an NBA summer games to play in this league
The American guard went undrafted in 2014 but in the same year, he appeared in the Houston Rockets summer league team. He later joined Cleveland Cavaliers in preseason games, but unfortunately waived before the start of season.
In Africa, Crawford played for US Monastir in BAL inaugural season before joining SLAC in the second edition. He is now in Rwanda to help Patriots overcome their long time rivals and back to continental competitions.
The second game is scheduled this Saturday, September 10 in BK Arena. Will the Patriots extend the lead or will the REG BBC pull one game back and level the series? A must-watch game for a Basketball fan in Rwanda as REG BBC want to reclaim their throne at the peak of RBL and represent the country in Basketball Africa League.
In women’s category, Burundian International, Ines Nezerwa’s huge day leads the REG Women BBC to a win over APR WBBC. Nezerwa also know as Giti dropped 21 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and blocked 5 shoots. Odile Tetero added 15 points in the 60-57 narrow win against former champions, APRW BBC
Nelly Sandra Nsanzabaganwa scored 16 points for APR and provided 5 assists. Game 2 is scheduled for Saturday
