Rivers Hoopers’ bench avoids blowout loss to AS Douanes

When things seemed done and dusted for AS Douanes, Rivers Hoopers’ bench put on a spirited performance that avoided a blowout loss Saturday night.

The Hoopers, eventually, lost by a single digit (63-57) but the scoring gap could have been larger as they trailed by as many as 22 points at the end of the third quarter.

Although Hoopers guard Kelvin Mayo scored the first two points of the game for their only lead, the Nigerian champions struggled to keep up with AS Douanes’ fast-paced game.

The Hoopers looked nothing like the team that took the 2024 Sahara Conference by a storm, winning it with an impressive 4-2 mark.

For most of the first three quarters this was a one-sided affair as nothing worked out for the Port Harcourt-based team. And this became clearer in the third quarter where they shot 1-for-13.

And, being outscored 13-5 ahead of the final quarter was the last straw for Hoopers head coach Ogoh Odaudu who made a bold decision of sitting out his starting line-up.

Then, Rivers Hoopers’ bench took over, forcing AS Douanes to rethink their strategy.

The Hoopers reserves outscored their AS Douanes counterpart 14-0 in the last ten minutes.

And when Johnson Anaiye scored a mid-range jumper that cut the gap to 61-57 with 25 seconds left, the 2023 BAL runners-up recalled its starting line-up, but the damage was already done for the Hoopers.

AS Douanes forward Madut Akec acknowledged that they can’t complacent: “If we are up by that much we should be locked in; continue to get stops and not just get lazy on defense. Throughout the whole game they didn’t go on a big run, but their biggest run was in the last couple minutes of the game,” said the South Sudanese.

Devine Eke, the only Hoopers player to score in the double digits, finished with 11 points.

The Hoopers out-rebounded AS Douanes 56-48, but turning the ball over 21 times in the first three quarters – they had one more turnover in the fourth quarter – was too detrimental.

Abdoulaye Harouna led the AS Douanes with a game-high of 16 points and Maduc Akec added 13.

AS Douanes and Rivers Hoopers head to the Quarter-Finals with a 4-3 mark each.