Rwanda’s BAL glory came from unlikely heroes RSSB Tigers

Three teams from Rwanda came and went, but it was the unlikely heroes, the RSSB Tigers, who raised the country's flag at the 12-team Basketball Africa League (BAL).

Patriots Basketball Club represented Rwanda in the inaugural BAL season in 2021, achieving a fourth-place finish with a 3–3 win–loss record. 

Rwanda Energy Group (REG) represented the East African country in two consecutive BAL seasons, in 2022 and 2023 respectively, achieving 8th and 5th place respectively.

Next in line were APR, who featured in the BAL in the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

After failing to advance to the playoffs in the 2024 season – with a 2–4 record in the Sahara Conference – APR bounced back to finish third in the 2025 campaign.

All three teams reached the BAL season courtesy of winning the Rwanda Basketball League (RBL) title, but it was the RSSB Tigers who achieved the most success.

Three weeks before the start of the 2026 BAL season, the RSSB Tigers – a team that had never won the RBL, but which rose to the occasion by winning the 2025 Rwandan Cup and the 2026 National Super Cup – accepted an invitation from the Rwandan Basketball Federation to replace APR in the upcoming BAL season. 

They raced against the clock after receiving the historic invitation.

Within two weeks, the Tigers had assembled a squad comprising some new APR signings, former players and their coach, James Mayes, who had taken on an assistant role. The Tigers also retained their key players and head coach, Henry Mwinuka. 

The Tigers' unexpected season began in March, in Pretoria, South Africa, where they defeated four of their five opponents, including African heavyweights Al Ahly Ly and Petro de Luanda.

Having secured their place in the playoffs, the RSSB Tigers made slight changes to their roster with the addition of center Oumar Ballo, who proved to be a valuable player.

Although they opened their playoffs campaign with a 23-point win over FUS Rabat in the first round of the quarterfinals, they suffered their second loss of the season, losing 99-98 to Rabat in the second round.

With the whole country behind them, regardless of their club affiliations, the Tigers roared to a 106–97 win over the 2023 BAL champions, Al-Ahly SC, in the semi-finals, before knocking out (90-88) another former BAL winner, Petro de Luanda, in the Championship Game.

The unlikely RSSB Tigers, who had never won the Rwandan Basketball League before, achieved what other, more established local teams had failed to do in the previous five seasons of the BAL.

Not only did the Tigers close the 2026 season as the first Rwandan team to win the BAL, but they also signed off with the highest win-loss record (7–2) of any Rwandan team in BAL history.

The icing on the cake came when members of the RSSB Tigers won some of the most significant individual BAL awards.

Craig Randall, who experienced only one loss while playing for the RSSB Tigers – he didn’t play in their 101–92 defeat to the Nairobi City Thunder – was voted the 2026 BAL Most Valuable Player.

Mangok Mathiang was named the 2026 BAL Defensive Player of the Year, and their head coach, Henry Mwinuka, won the Coach of the Year award. 

Next, the RSSB Tigers will represent Rwanda and Africa at the 2026 FIBA Intercontinental Cup in Singapore in September. 

BAL