Rivers Hoopers Basketball Club of Port Harcourt have finished top of the Savannah Conference to seal their place in the playoffs of the Basketball Africa League.
The Kingsmen arrived Dakar, Senegal in high spirits and recorded three straight victories in their opening three encounters.
A 77-68 victory over AS Douanes of Senegal was followed by an 86-82 triumph over APR of Rwanda, before another 84-63 win against 2022 champions, US Monastir of Tunisia.
Ogoh Odaudu’s team suffered their first defeat on day four against AS Douanes, who took a narrow 56-54 result in front of their home fans.
Hoopers bounced back on match-day five and needed double overtime to see off stubborn APR 78-71.
The final day of action yesterday ended in US Monastir’s favour as the Tunisian side beat Rivers Hoopers 73-62, but the result still could not deny the Nigerian champions top spot as they got the job done in the Savannah Conference with a 4-2 record.
Kelvin Amayo, Will Perry, Divine Eke and Peter Okisemeka have been the stars of the show for Hoopers – playing huge roles in the team’s qualification for the playoffs.
Rivers Hoopers, AS Douanes and US Monastir have all sealed qualification for the BAL playoffs in Kigali, Rwanda, and will join FUS Rabat of Morocco, Al Ahly of Egypt and Al Ahly Benghazi of Libya from the Nile Conference.
Cape Town Tigers of South Africa and Petro de Luanda of Angola picked the tickets from the Kalahari Conference to complete the playoff roster.
The BAL playoffs will begin on May 24 and end on June 1, 2024 at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.
