Rivers Hoopers extended their winning run to three straight games in the 2026 Nigeria Premier Basketball League (NPBL) Phase I, pulling clear against Atlantic Conference Group A rivals Raptors BC with a 75-59 victory on Tuesday afternoon.
How Rivers Hoopers secured the win
- Rivers Hoopers started strongly, building a 22-10 advantage after the opening quarter.
- Raptors BC responded in the second period, winning the stanza 19-17 to reduce the gap to 39-29 at halftime.
- In the third quarter, Hoopers pushed the lead out to 21 points before Raptors closed the period’s closing stretch with a 16-10 surge over the final five minutes.
- The fourth quarter turned tense, with Rivers tightening defensively to close the game 16-12 and seal the 75-59 result.
Victor Koko, the KingsMen captain, led the scoring with 16 points and was just one rebound shy of a double-double. John Idoga delivered 13 points along with 6 assists and 5 steals, while Victor Sunday added 11, marking a third consecutive outing in which at least three Rivers Hoopers players reached double figures.
Eric Okechukwu contributed eight rebounds off the bench and said the improvement came from collective adjustments rather than individual heroics, pointing to the team’s problem-solving during stoppages.
“We had several discussions during our timeouts,” he said. “We had to come together to figure out the loopholes and what we were not doing right. We figured it out and decided to distribute the ball more, not play individually, and then we were able to utilise our options to our advantage.”
Rivers Hoopers also got significant output from their bench, with five substitutes combining for 42 points—56% of the team’s total. Even so, 18 turnovers became a talking point, drawing a clear response from head coach Ronald Alalibo.
“Our performance was below standard today. Inasmuch as we won, there were certain things we didn’t do properly. We committed some unforced errors, and that was down to our attitude towards the game,” he said.
Next test and mindset heading into the rematch
Alalibo referenced the team’s earlier momentum, noting that while Rivers Hoopers had already routed Hoops & Read 84-58 on Gameday One, he expects a different challenge when they meet again.
“We just have to up our first approach,” he said. “It’s quite difficult playing against the same team twice because they would approach the game with a different mind-set, having studied your team from the first game. We are also aware of this and are going to find ways to make improvements to our performance from our last game against them.”
Rivers Hoopers will take on Hoops & Read today, 20 May, at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan.
