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Rivers Hoopers Through to Basketball Africa League Playoffs

Our Reporters1 week ago1 week ago03 mins

Rivers Hoopers have secured their place in the Basketball Africa League Playoffs by defeating FUS Rabat, and will next face Al-Ittihad of Egypt in a crucial match on Saturday. For a second consecutive season, Nigeria’s representatives at season five of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) have qualified for the Playoffs holding in Pretoria, South Africa from 6-14 June. Rivers Hoopers defeated FUS Rabat 79-71 on Thursday night to move to a 3-1 mark on the Kalahari Conference table. With two games left to play, the KingsMen are second on the table behind Al-Ittihad of Egypt (4-0). While FUS Rabat sit third with a 1-3 record and Stade Malien on 0-4 mark. The KingsMen will battle the Egyptian champions for the first place while FUS and Stade Malien will slug it out for the third spot. Rivers Hoopers head coach Ogoh Odaudu is excited to have qualified for the 2025 BAL Playoffs with two more games to go. ”It feels really good to qualify for the finals again. It is the highest basketball stage in Africa, and everybody in Africa wants to be there. I am really, really happy that we are there now. We hope to take some time off to celebrate. ”Right from the get-go our target was to make the playoffs. Now that we have made the playoffs, we are going to get greedy,” he stated. Odaudu said the current target of the team is to go past their previous record of a third-place finish. ”We came in third last year. We are hoping that we are going to go a step further. Everybody wants that for us; they have pushed us, and we want to go a step further than what we did last year. ”Right now we are enjoying the victory of last night and will get back to work this evening.” Rivers Hoopers will next play Egyptian champions Al-Ittihad on Saturday at 4pm WAT.

Rivers Hoopers Will Look to Bounce Back from Loss to Al-Ittihad

Our Reporters1 week ago1 week ago04 mins

Rivers Hoopers were handed their first loss of the 2025 Basketball Africa League (BAL) campaign, falling 80-100 to Egypt’s Al-Ittihad in their third game of the Kalahari Conference at the Salle Omnisports Moulay Abdellah on Tuesday. Despite the result, the KingsMen had some strong individual performances. Madut Akec led the team with 18 points and 4 rebounds. Putney followed with 17 points, while Kelvin Amayo posted an all-around effort with 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Maxi Shamba added 11 points off the bench. The Nigerian league champions showed flashes of their quality, even taking a brief lead in the second quarter. But costly turnovers and breakdowns in transition defense allowed the Egyptian side to take control, especially from beyond the arc. Al-Ittihad’s Kyle Vinales led all scorers with 26 points and 7 rebounds, proving decisive during key stretches of the game. With two wins and one loss now in the bag, Rivers Hoopers will look to bounce back when they face Morocco’s FUS Rabat on Thursday, April 10. A victory will be vital in their quest to secure a playoff spot in the Kalahari Conference. Rivers Hoopers suffer first loss in Basketball Africa League season five. Rivers Hoopers were handed their first loss of the 2025 Basketball Africa League (BAL) campaign, falling 80-100 to Egypt’s Al-Ittihad in their third game of the Kalahari Conference at the Salle Omnisports Moulay Abdellah on Tuesday. Despite the result, the KingsMen had some strong individual performances. Madut Akec led the team with 18 points and 4 rebounds. Putney followed with 17 points, while Kelvin Amayo posted an all-around effort with 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Maxi Shamba added 11 points off the bench. The Nigerian champions showed flashes of their quality, even taking a brief lead in the second quarter. But costly turnovers and breakdowns in transition defense allowed the Egyptian side to take control, especially from beyond the arc. Al-Ittihad’s Kyle Vinales led all scorers with 26 points and 7 rebounds, proving decisive during key stretches of the game. Rivers Hoopers head coach Ogoh Odaudu admitted his team needs to do better in the next game. “We had 20 turnovers today, luckily they didn’t really score from there. We also need to box out better. With 41 rebounds? We can’t afford to play basketball like that,” Odaudu said. “We gave them so many second chance opportunities. These are part of the things we can’t afford to do in our next game. We lost badly and so we will go back and work on that.” With two wins and one defeat, Rivers Hoopers will look to bounce back when they face Morocco’s FUS Rabat on Thursday, April 10. A victory will be vital in their quest to secure a playoff spot in South Africa.