Rivers Hoopers Still Undefeated

Nigeria’s Rivers Hoopers beat Tunisia’s US Monastir 84-63 and Rwanda’s APR defeated Senegal’s AS Douanes 66-61 on day three of the Basketball Africa League’s Sahara Conference currently underway at Dakar Arena in Senegal.

It was the Hoopers third straight win in the competition as they solidified their position on top of the conference, after dominating the Tunisian team from the tip-off. In the ultimate team effort, the Hoopers outrebounded Monastir 45-35, shot the ball better and were more disciplined with their offense, with Kelvin Amayo recording 30 points and nine assists. Devine Eke got 13 points and 12 rebounds, Will Perry added 19 points and nine assists, and Peter Olisemeka finished with 13 points and nine rebounds for the Hoopers, who will look for their fourth consecutive win tomorrow.

Sadio Doucoure led Monastir with 21 points, Chris Crawford added 17 points and 14 assists, but the team made less than 38 percent of their shots from the floor and has a mountain to climb in their search for a spot in the BAL Playoffs and Finals in Kigali later this month.

In the second game yesterday, Obadiah Noel led APR to their second win, scoring 24 points and grabbing eight rebounds, while Jean Jacques Boissy led AS Douanes with 14 points, six rebounds and 11 assist. The game was a low-scoring affair, with both teams struggling to make shots in the opening half. With two wins, APR is second in the Sahara Conference, with one win and three points separating them from the third AS Douanes.

On Monday afternoon, as part of the Sahara Conference social responsibility efforts, 60 young women took part in the BAL4HER Career in Sports Workshop in Dakar, where they engaged with female BAL and sports industry leaders and took part in group discussions focused on driving female agenda forward.

The Sahara Conference will return tomorrow, when APR takes on US Monastir at 4 p.m. GMT and Rivers Hoopers face AS Douanes at 7 p.m. GMT.