Ndoye, Diarra spark APR in win over MBB

It was yet another night of celebration at BK Arena as the 2025 Nile Conference hosts APR recorded their biggest win in the history of the Basketball Africa League (BAL).

Youssoupha Ndoye and Aliou Diarra came up with dominant performances on Sunday night to help APR improve to 2-0 after a 103-81 win over MBB.

It was APR's second straight win in front of an enthusiastic home crowd who supported their heroes throughout the game even when MBB took a 47-45 halftime lead.

Ndoye finished with a game-high of 25 points, Diarra recorded his second double-double of the season, finishing with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

It was a game with two very distinct halves: a very balanced first half turned into a complete APR dominancy in third quarter.

But it was Chasson Randle’s third and last three-pointer of the game that sent fans inside the BK Arena into a frenzy as it saw APR cross the 100-point mark, the first time the Rwandan champions hit such a mark in the league.

The historic shot was followed by ole, ole, ole chants, symbolising a job done for the Lions.

"We knew it was an important game for us," said APR guard Ntore Habimana, who contributed four points and had the most assists (eight) for the second game in a row.

Habimana explained that the team's growing confidence is real.

“If you win one game, people might think it’s luck. But if you win two games, that’s when you set the tone. We wanted to set the tone in this game and carry it over to our next one, which will be our toughest.”

With local fans filling most of the BK Arena seats on Sunday and supporting the team throughout the game, the 6-foot-6 guard admitted their presence was pivotal to their performance.

“Home court advantage is real. We use the fans to fuel us. When we go on runs, that’s how we get these 20-, 30-point leads. They're only possible because the fans are pushing and fueling us.”

He continued: "Everything we’ve worked on these past few weeks—including the fans—is going to help us win our next game."

Meanwhile, Diarra limped off the court midway through the fourth quarter and never returned.

For the second game in a row, MBB’s bench wasn’t as productive as their opponents', contributing 16 points to APR's 30.

Teafale Lenard Jr. led MBB with 20 points, but it wasn't enough to avoid the South African champions' second loss in two games.

Teafale Jr. stressed that they still have a chance in the playoff race.

He said: “Those little mistakes in the second half allowed them to pull away.” He added: These are our first two games as a team, and we are going to improve. These two losses don’t affect us. We’ll come out and win the next game, and we’ll be fine.”

APR (2-0) will face Al Ahli Tripoli (2-0) in Tuesday’s highly anticipated game, while MBB (0-2) will take on Nairobi City Thunder (0-2).