Tigers Draw First Blood in Kigali as Randall Drops 38 on FUS de Rabat

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Kalahari Conference winners and highest scorers RSSB Tigers of Rwanda picked up from where they left off as they blew out their opponents FUS de Rabat 95-72 to establish a 23-point lead in the first of two-game series at the ongoing Basketball Africa League Playoffs season 6 in Kigali.

The 2026 playoffs follow a new system in which teams will play a two-game series in the quarterfinals, with the winners advancing to the semi-finals on points aggregate.

Leonard Craig Randall II finished the game with a game-high 38 points to improve the chances of the team that is also enjoying the home court advantage in the playoffs. He also registered three assists and three rebounds in the convincing game 1 win for the Rwandan side. For FUS Rabat, Uchenna Iroegbu was the highest scorer as he registered 14 points, just one rebound and two assists in the matchup.

The BK Arena was shaking long before tip-off, especially as the first game had just ended and by the time the final buzzer sounded, the RSSB Tigers had given the home crowd exactly what they came for.

From the opening minutes, the Tigers played like the hungrier team as expected and it was no surprise that they raced into an early lead that also saw them up by 13 points at 22-9 with less than three minutes left on the clock in the opening quarter.

Even though FUS de Rabat looked a bit out of sync in the first quarter, they still managed to close out with back to back two pointers and that momentum got them going in the second quarter as they put up a more solid fight that saw them go neck and neck with the home team and went on to edge the second quarter by two points at 23-21 that saw them trailing by nine points at halftime as both teams went into the locker room with the score at 45-36.

The Moroccans emerged from the locker room a different team as they consciously stiffened their defense and kept the score close by keeping their rotations sharper. They consistently traded baskets with the Tigers in a tense, physical frame and had only lost by two points in the quarter when the horn sounded, some ray of hope suddenly flickering on their bench. The huge loss of lethal scorer Abdoulaye Harouna who was forced out due to a hand injury and playmaker Anthony Pritchard, whose performance in front of their home fans during the Sahara Conference has left a huge dent on the team.

For a moment, it felt like a game again but the fourth quarter belonged to the Tigers as they took advantage of seeing FUS run out of gas. And the solid run especially being championed by Randall's brilliance saw the arena rocking again as the Tigers outscored FUS 24–12 in the fourth quarter. A 12-point margin in the final period that turned a tight contest into a lopsided final score.

Now the math is brutal for the Moroccan champs who are interestingly in their third BAL season in a row and aiming to advance to the semis needing to win Game 2 by at least 24 points to force overtime, a tall order on the road.

The 2026 BAL playoffs will run from May 22nd to May 31st in Kigali.

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Photography/Imagery Courtesy of Armand Lenoir]

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