KIGALI, Rwanda — Basketball Africa League (BAL) Nile Conference hosts Armée Patriotique Rwandaise (APR) capitalised on a third-quarter collapse from South Africa’s Made By Ball (MBB) to win a second straight game on Sunday, clinching a comfortable 103-81 victory.
Rwandan president Paul Kagame has watched his country’s teams suffer many difficult defeats in previous BAL seasons, but this year, he has been present for two wins out of the opening two fixtures.
It was a second defeat on the bounce for league debutants MBB, who had tipped off the conference with an 87-77 defeat to Al Ahli Tripoli. After Ahli Tripoli won Sunday’s early game 115-87 against NCT, APR were looking to join them on 2-0.
The evening game was a clash with several subplots to it. For one, it was a meeting of representatives of two of the NBA’s most important markets in Africa – Rwanda and South Africa. Kigali have hosted the last four BAL playoffs, but this year, Pretoria will have its turn. Kigali is scheduled to host the playoffs again in 2026 and 2028.
Furthermore, MBB’s Pieter Prinsloo – who plays in the Rwandan Basketball League for Rwanda Energy Group (REG) came up against a rival club he knows all too well.
Many of the MBB players have experienced the passion of the Rwandan crowds in playoff matches with the Cape Town Tigers. However, the Tigers never came up against a Rwandan team.
Ntore Habimana ensured that MBB were thrown into the deep end as he sunk an early three to put the first points on the board for APR. However, Prinsloo fired back immediately with three for MBB – making a statement that the debutants were up for the challenge.
That back-and-forth exchange set the tone for the first quarter and despite runs where APR threatened to pull clear, MBB kept pace and led 26-23 at the end of the quarter.
The second quarter got off to a feisty start, with Aliou Diarra making a huge block on Prinsloo moments before MBB’s Mouhamed Camara clattered into Dane Miller Jr. for a foul. Momentum continued to switch hands, but MBB crept 38-30 in front through back-to-back threes from Pieter Prinsloo and Teafale Lenard Jr.
However, Axel Mpoyo hit right back with two threes of his own to keep APR hot on MBB’s tails. The crowd had been restless for much of the first half but got behind the hosts as they snuck 42-41 ahead briefly. The lead continued to change hands, but MBB went into half-time 47-45 up.
Sam Vincent’s side got the second half off to a nightmare start as APR went on an 8-0 run to take the lead again. The hosts kept their momentum to take a 73-59 lead into the final quarter.
Although the fixture retained its bite in the fourth quarter, with Jovan Mooring and Miller exchanging heated words, MBB had lost the intensity in their game that had shone through in the first half.
APR suffered a blow as Aliou Diarra limped off around midway through the quarter. His 22 points, 14 points and 3 blocks were crucial as he continued his battle with Ahli Tripoli’s Jean-Jacques Boissy for the frontrunners’ spot in the battle for BAL MVP.
Youssoupha Ndoye played out of his skin and continued to shine after Diarra’s exit, taking his points tally to 25 along with 9 rebounds and 2 steals. The game opened up late on, just as the early tip-off between Ahli Tripoli and NCT had before it, but APR continued to call the shots.
For MBB, the high margin of defeat will be a concern, as it is looking increasingly likely that the clearest path to playoff qualification for them will be as one of the two best third-placed teams. To achieve that, they will need a better record in Kigali than Morocco’s FUS Rabat had in their home Kalahari Conference (2-4 with a points difference of -19).
MBB will face NCT in Tuesday’s early tip-off, before APR battle Ahli Tripoli for the lead in the conference at the midway point.
“I think our guys played better. Our focus was to get better every time we play. This is a new team – we haven’t played a lot together. Every time we get onto the court, we want to see improvement,” said Vincent in his post-match press conference, acknowledging that APR’s experience played a key role in the second half.
“I think in the first half, we played really well because we focused on moving the ball. We swung it from side to side. We were patient with our shots… In the second half, we were not as patient.”
APR coach James Maye Jr. said: “Part of our preparation is being able to survive through the tough times. Because of that, we’re able to have tough conversations about the truth of what’s going on and the truth was we weren’t physical enough in the first half.
“It was just letting guys know that we needed to go get the glass, we needed physicality, but also that we needed to just piece the game together.”
The BAL airs on ESPN’s channels in Africa (DStv 218 and 219, Starsat 248).
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