Rivers Hoopers returned to winning form in emphatic fashion, overpowering Comets BC 92-61 to reach four victories from their five matches in Phase One of the 2026 Nigeria Premier Basketball League (NPBL).
The KingsMen had previously suffered a narrow, five-point loss to Hoops & Read after surrendering a 14-point advantage on Day Four, but they responded with a steadier display on the back of sharp shooting to collect a second straight win over Comets with a margin of 30-plus points.
Chinedu Nwaogu topped the scoring charts with 20 points and five rebounds, also draining 3 of 6 attempts from beyond the arc. Abel Offia added 19 points and five rebounds, going 5 of 8 from three-point range as Hoopers collectively finished with 13 successful triples.
Anaiye Johnson just missed a double-double, finishing with 11 points and nine assists, while Duro-Ladipo Olatoye contributed 12 points in an improved outing that pleased interim head coach Ronald Alalibo.
“The players stepped up,” Alalibo said. “We went back and looked into the things that we didn’t do properly in our previous game. Made some corrections to the errors and came back strong. We tried to see how we could limit our errors to the barest minimum, and that’s what we did.”
Hoopers’ turnaround was visible from the outset, leading 26-19 after the opening quarter before pushing the advantage to 53-32 at halftime. The gap widened further to 72-47 at the end of the third period, and the KingsMen then closed out the contest with a 31-point win.
John Idoga, who came off the bench to score eight points, pointed to the team’s shared responsibility in fixing the issues from the previous day.
“Today we stepped up our defense. We identified our mistakes from yesterday, and we were able to deal with them today. Tomorrow we’ll come out here, play as well as we know we can, and hopefully get the win,” he added.
Despite the comfortable result, the victory was not without disruption, with KingsMen captain Victor Koko sidelined through injury just 27 seconds into the game. Alalibo said the squad’s depth helped them absorb the early setback.
“We’re built in a way that everyone is ready to fill in any empty space. If there’s a shortage in our playing personnel, we have to step up our game, and that’s what we did,” he said.
Rivers Hoopers will now take on Raptors BC in their last Atlantic Conference Group A match. After beating Raptors 75-59 on Day Three, Alalibo stressed the need to maintain the same level of intensity for Friday’s matchup.
“We’ll approach the game with the same mentality. Although we won today, there are a few things we still need to correct. So we keep working,” he concluded.
