{"id":101471,"date":"2025-05-18T16:00:55","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T16:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/bal-2025-diarra-stars-as-apr-crush-debutants-nairobi-city-thunder"},"modified":"2025-05-18T16:31:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T16:31:18","slug":"bal-2025-diarra-stars-as-apr-crush-debutants-nairobi-city-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/bal-2025-diarra-stars-as-apr-crush-debutants-nairobi-city-thunder","title":{"rendered":"BAL 2025: Diarra stars as APR crush debutants Nairobi City Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Nile Conference<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, May 17<\/p>\n<p>APR 92\u201363 NCT<\/p>\n<p>MBB 77-87 Al Ahli Tripoli<\/p>\n<p>Malian forward Aliou Diarra delivered a stellar performance with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 6 blocks as APR got off to a strong start to the Nile Conference of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2025 with a convincing 92-63 win over Kenya\u2019s Nairobi City Thunder (NCT) before their home crowd at BK Arena on Saturday, May 17.<\/p>\n<p>Diarra nearly tied the BAL single-game block record, which stands at 7 and is held by Khaman Maluach.<\/p>\n<p>The late tip-off, which was attended by thousands including president Paul Kagame, began with both teams showing intensity. After a tightly contested opening, the Kenyan side edged ahead, leading 23\u201322 at the end of the first quarter.<\/p>\n<p>President Paul Kagame was among thousands of basketball supporters who watched APR beat Nairobi City Thunder 92-63 in their first match of the Nile Conference at BK Arena on Saturday<\/p>\n<p>Miss Rwanda 2020 Naomi Nishimwe and her husband Michael Tesfay followed APR playing Nairobi City Thunder in their first match of the Nile Conference<\/p>\n<p>The second quarter saw the momentum shift repeatedly before APR began to pull away.<\/p>\n<p>While NCT\u2019s Tylor Ongwae was the only player to reach double figures in first-half scoring, APR led 39\u201331 at the break, buoyed by a more balanced offensive effort.<\/p>\n<p>The early stages of the third quarter were one-way traffic as APR star player, Diarra, hit top gear along with Youssoupha Ndoye and Chasson Randle.<\/p>\n<p>Point guard Adonis Filer was watching courtside with his fiance\u0301e Kathia Kamali after he was dropped from APR final roster for BAL 2025<\/p>\n<p>NCT fought back towards the end of the quarter, but APR held a 59-51 lead, heading into the last.<\/p>\n<p>The floodgates opened in the fourth quarter as NCT ran out of steam. Ndoye, Diarra, Dane Miller and Chasson Randle all had standout moments in a 33-12 run as APR gave the home fans plenty of value for money in an almost packed stadium.<\/p>\n<p>APR are now top of the conference, ahead of BAL 2024 runners-up Al Ahli who, inspired by Jean Jacques Boisy, beat South African debutants Made By Basketball (MBB) 87-77 in the game that opened the Nile Conference.<\/p>\n<p>Action resumes on Sunday where NCT will take on Al Ahli SC at 2:30pm while MBB will be looking to bag their first win in the conference when they go head to head with APR at 5:30pm.<\/p>\n\r\n                <style type=\"text\/css\">\r\n                    \r\n                    #td_uid_1_6a04e77d3b7d6  .td-doubleSlider-2 .td-item1 {\r\n                        background: url(https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/05\/sm_1747573061.937357-80x60.jpg) 0 0 no-repeat;\r\n                    }\r\n                    #td_uid_1_6a04e77d3b7d6  .td-doubleSlider-2 .td-item2 {\r\n   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Nile Conference Saturday, May 17 APR 92\u201363 NCT MBB 77-87 Al Ahli Tripoli Malian forward Aliou Diarra delivered a stellar performance with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 6 blocks as APR got off to a strong start to the Nile Conference of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2025 with a convincing 92-63 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":101470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,20,18],"tags":[7362,7337,758],"class_list":["post-101471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-photo","category-sport","tag-bal-5","tag-nile-conference","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>BAL 2025: Diarra stars as APR crush debutants Nairobi City Thunder - 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