Despite having a ticket to host 2021 Afrobasket, Rwanda has not yet managed to register a win in the qualifiers campaign.
On Thursday afternoon, February 18, Rwanda played its second game in the 2nd window and fifth in general in the 2021 Afrobasket Qualifiers, but the victory is still a dream for this team that prepares to host the biggest Basketball championship in Africa this coming summer.
After losing to Mali in the fourth match of these qualifiers in general and the first in the second window, Rwanda lost again to Nigeria 64-51. In this match, they led 2 quarters and few minutes of the 3rd Quarter but it ended with the more experienced team changing the game and won the fourth quarter. 14-22, 16-09, 14-10 and 20-10 were the scores of all Quarters that ended in favour of Nigerians.
Rwanda’s Axel Mpoyo scored the highest in the game, 14 points, while Jean Jacques Nshobozwabyosenumukiza made 11 points, 4 assists and 4 steals. In this game, they didn’t use Prince Ibeh due to the injury got during the practice sessions.
Despite losing 2 games as head coach, Henry Mwinuka believes that his side played well against Nigeria compared to Mali. Henry’s younger side managed to polish their mistakes from the Mali encounter. The coach expressed concerns that his side needed to have more experienced players on the court to match the competition from his contenders.
Rwanda will play the final game of these qualifiers today against the Bright stars of South Sudan.
