Intare Basketball Club staged a late rally to stun the Kepler with a 68-67 nail-biting victory and took advantage of the first game of the Rwanda Basketball League Division 2 quarterfinal Playoffs.
Intare fought back from a five-point deficit in the fourth quarter to hand RBL D2 Group B leaders its first loss in nine games, on Friday night at Kimironko Sports & Community Space.
Kepler led by six points (22-21, 23-18) after two quarters before the APR Juniors, Intare grabbed control of the game and staged a late rally and amazing comeback.
In the third quarter, Intare, under the guidance of Jean-Paul Hirwa and Eric Munyaneza put in a perimeter defense to force Kepler numerous turnovers and bad shots which resulted in a lower score of 12-11.
Larson Shema Niyibizi and Fabrice Byiringiro led a tenacious Intare team that outscored one of the league’s title contenders late in the game.
The score was tight with 12 seconds remaining, when Furaha Lajoie Muburanyi draw a foul and awarded two free throws that, if converted, would have tied the game at 68. Instead, the Kepler PG only succeeded on one of his two attempts.
Intare misused the timeout requested and give away a ball possession with 8 seconds remaining. Rene Sahabu also asked for a timeout; his tactics were successful in breaking down the opponent’s man-to-man defense, but Patrick Murwanashyaka missed an open layup that would have killed the game. Thus, Intare cruised to a well-deserved victory.
Intare’s Larson Shema Niyibizi, Fabrice Byiringiro, and Ismael Niyonkuru all scored in double figures. 15, 14, and 13 respectively. Furaha Lajoie Muburanyi and Patrick Murwanashyaka both had 13 points for Kepler, while Patrick Rwema “stingy” chipped in with ten.
Intare seized the lead in the best-of-three quarterfinal series, with the second game planned for today, Saturday, July 8, in Kepler.
Elsewhere, the Flame handed Rusizi Basketball Club its first loss of the season. A surprise result of 89-74 compels Rusizi to play a do-or-die game in the second game today if they want to advance and return to the top-division league.
In the other quarterfinal games, Inspired Generation thrashed ITS Kigali 93-56, while The Hoops Junior defeated Azomco 80-77 in another all-offensive game of this playoff series.
Today, the teams take the court for their second game at Kepler.
