The Patriots’ 73-71 victory wasn’t decided until the last two seconds of the game when Gasana made one of his two free-throws, sending the already enthusiastic home crowd into a frenzy. The excited fans included Rwanda President Paul Kagame, who attended the game alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.
For the second time in three days, Petro de Luanda defeated AS Salé, but this time the victory allowed them to reach the semi-finals of the Basketball Africa League (BAL)
The tournament began on May 16 with 12 teams, but 18 games into the 2021 BAL, only eight remain in contention for the top prize of the newly-launched competition. GNBC (Madagascar), Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria), AS Police (Mali) and GSP (Algeria) have all been eliminated
The professional league, taking place at Kigali Arena from May 16-30 under strict COVID-19 guidelines, is a partnership between the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) that features 12 club teams from across Africa.
A basketball team consists of five players per side and is divided into different positions. Like most sports the team has very clear roles to support their overall success:
Victor is grateful to his coaches Coach Carey “T9” Odhiambo of the Dumas and Coach Liz Mills of the Kenya Morans for molding his game.
Sun Belt Conference Newcomer of the Year Felmas Koranga contributed 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Koranga is a younger sister of Morans powerhouse forward Ariel Okal. Their father, Elijah Koranga played soccer for army side Scarlet and the national team, Harambee Stars.
