BY JULIUS MBARAGA
National Basketball League
Rusizi 67-77 Marine
UNR 55-79 CSK
UGB 54-84 Espoir
APR 89-60 KIE
GEDEKA ‘Bunene’ Kajeguhakwa had reason to smile after powering Marine to their fifth successive win of the season in Sunday’s 77-67 victory over Rusizi.
The agile center busted out of a slump with 21 points and 14 rebounds while Alma Ibanga added 20 points to maintain the 2007 champions’ unbeaten run in this year’s national basketball league.
Despite the defeat, Rusizi had the better start claiming the first quarter 23-14 but Bunene together with Marine’s skipper Aboubacar Barame and Ibanga led Marine’s fight back with a 25-16 second quarter win to leave the sides level (39-39) at half time.
Rusizi threatened for a second time with a third quarter lead of one point but Prospere Mihigo’s side rallied back in the fourth quarter (22-14) to seal off a not so straightforward win.
“This was one of our toughest games in the season so far but I’m happy we still managed to seal off a nice win,” Bunene, who joined Marine in the off-season from APR, said in a post match interview.
“They (Rusizi) made the most of their home advantage and could have easily shocked us if we had backed down for a second.”
Like Marine, defending champions APR also coasted to their fifth win of the season after an 89-60 win over Kigali Institute of Education (KIE). CSK and Espoir also came off with wins against the National University of Rwanda (UNR) and UGB respectively.
CSK beat UNR 79-55 while Espoir raced to their biggest win of the season with an 89-60 victory over UGB.