Africa-Press – Rwanda. APR head coach James Maye Jr has heaped praise on Aloiu Dairra and Chasson Randle for leading the away in Saturday’s dominant 92-63 win over Nairobi City Thunder at BK Arena.
The pair contributed 21 and 20 points respectively to help the Rwandan champions register the first win in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2025 Nile Conference taking place in Kigali.
“Every time we step on the floor, we try to play great basketball with the full team. What Randle and Diarra did tonight, it’s a full team effort, but beyond that, the whole team played well,” Maye told the press in a post-match interview.
APR may have dominated NCT in the opening match but point guard Jean Jacques Wilson Nshobozwabyosenumukiza warned that the Kenyan side can pose a big threat in the coming matches despite making a maiden BAL appearance.
“The Nairobi City Thunder didn’t give us an easy time on the court; they were able to run fast towards the basket, but we tried to prevent that,” he said.
We can come back!
NCT were promising in the first quarter which ended 23-22 in their favor before APR dominated the last three quarters.
Club coach Bradley Thomas admitted that their opponents were the better side in game management but remains optimistic that his side can improve in the coming match, especially Sunday’s clash with Al Ahli SC.
“We were a little bit out of character today offensively. The ball was sticking, making it difficult for us to execute plays that led to easy defensive positions for them. They got some rebounds which allowed them to run on us,” he explained.
Action resumes today, Sunday, where NCT will take on Al Ahli SC at 2:30 pm, while Made By Basketball (MBB) will be looking to secure their first win in the conference when they face APR at 5:30 pm.
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