‘We just need to win two more games to qualify for the finals in South Africa’: Rivers Hoopers not losing sleep over loss to All Ittihad

Rivers Hoopers star, David Ike is confident the team will secure one of the tickets from the Kalahari Conference for the finals of the 2025 Basketball Africa League.

The King’s Men were blown out 100-80 by Egyptian side, Al Ittihad in their third game of the competition but Ike says the team won’t lose sleep over that as their destiny is firmly in their hands as far as making the trip to South Africa is concerned.

Madut Akec led the Hoopers with 18 points, but Al Ittihad’s 41-29 rebounding advantage proved too much.

The Rivers Hoopers, who had held opponents to 71 points per game in their first two games, trailed 71-58 with three minutes left in the third quarter.

“We started slow defensively, that’s why we couldn’t catch up with them. This loss doesn’t affect us in any way. We just need to win two more games to qualify for the finals in South Africa,’ admitted David Ike who finished with six points.

Rivers Hoopers head coach Ogoh Odaudu however admitted his team needs to do better in the next game.

“We had 20 turnovers today, luckily they didn’t really score from there. We also need to box out better. With 41 rebounds? We can’t afford to play basketball like that,” Odaudu said.

“We gave them so many second chance opportunities. These are part of the things we can’t afford to do in our next game. We lost badly and so we will go back and work on that.”

With two wins and one defeat, Rivers Hoopers will look to bounce back when they face Morocco’s FUS Rabat on Thursday, April 10.

A victory will be vital in their quest to secure a playoff spot in South Africa.