{"id":72210,"date":"2024-05-06T16:10:47","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T16:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/sahara-conference-apr-suffer-defeat-to-rivers-hoopers"},"modified":"2024-05-06T16:15:04","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T16:15:04","slug":"sahara-conference-apr-suffer-defeat-to-rivers-hoopers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/sahara-conference-apr-suffer-defeat-to-rivers-hoopers","title":{"rendered":"Sahara Conference: APR suffer defeat to Rivers Hoopers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Sunday, May 5<\/b><\/p>\n

APR 82-86 Rivers Hoopers<\/p>\n

Rwanda\u2019s APR tasted their first loss at Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2024, following Sunday\u2019s 83-86 defeat at the hands of Nigeria’s Rivers Hoopers at the Dakar Arena in Senegal.<\/p>\n

The Nigerian champions improved their win record to 2-0 after overcoming APR who had beaten Tunisia\u2019s US Monastir 89-84 after overtime in the opening game of the conference.<\/p>\n

Point guard Will Perry put up a man-of-the-match performance, contributing team high 29 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists to the Hoopers\u2019 victory at the expense of Mazen Trakh\u2019s side which paid the price for a host of costly turnovers made during the game.<\/p>\n

After the game, APR captain William Robeyns said, \u201cWe allowed Will Perry to shoot far too many open shots, and this cost us because he is a smart player.\u201d<\/p>\n

It soon became evident that three-point shooting would be a factor in the game that no team led by more than 6 points.<\/p>\n

At the end of the opening quarter, APR, who eventually finished 6-for-31 from behind the arc, were 0-7 from long range.<\/p>\n

Robeyns says that the Hoopers won the game because they wanted it more.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the Rwandan champions shortcomings, the APR skipper admitted that they will need to regroup and make some adjustments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t play well defensively. We are going to watch a film, focus on defense and try to move forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe scored 82 points today. Offensively we are good, we just need to put more emphasis on our defense, \u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Obadiah Noel came up with yet another stellar performance, finishing with a game-high of 32 points, but APR paid the price for their careless perimeter defense.<\/p>\n

Adonis Filer had a performance that one would assume one would like to forget during which he shot 2-for-15 to finish with 6 points.<\/p>\n

APR coach Mazen Trakh sought answers from his bench, which outscored Rivers Hoopers\u2019 14-6, but shooting 22-for-32 from the charity stripe only made things worse for them.<\/p>\n

It was another good day for Rivers Hoopers, who had upset the hosts AS Douanes 24 hours earlier.<\/p>\n

APR will be back in action on Tuesday, May 7, against AS Douanes at 9pm Kigali-Time.<\/p>\n

The BAL 2023 runners-up will go into the game with a 1-1 record having beaten US Monastir 76-59 on Sunday.<\/p>\n\r\n