Rwanda National League defending champions Patriots may have lost to their title challengers on Friday night but head coach Henry Mwinuka is confident his side are still favourites to clinch the championship at the end of the season.
Mwinuka insists that despite the 78-68 defeat to Rwanda Energy Group (REG) on Friday night, the race is still wide open and expects his team to retain the regular season crown.
The loss was only Patriots’ second defeat of the season having lost to IPRC earlier in the season.
Center Kami Kabange once again showed his experience and quality with a game high 21 points as Jean Bahufite’s side rallied on to win and boost their chances of winning silverware in their maiden season in Rwandan basketball.
“We played a good game and to a large extent had it in our hands to win it, but we committed a lot of technical errors and some dodgy refereeing also affected our concentration and it handed advantage to our opponents to fight back,” Mwinuka, a former coach at Uganda’s KIU Titans, told Rwandan newspaper New Times after the game.
“However, we will not give up, the race is still open, we have five games remaining and we have to win them. REG have tough games coming up and they can stumble at some point, so we should be ready to take advantage in case they slip up,” the Kenyan tactician added.
With REG defeating IPRC on Sunday, they are in charge now and leapfrogged Patriots to the summit of the log.
REG was formed this year and is competing in the Rwandan League for the first time.