RABAT, Morocco - The fifth season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) tipped off at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Sporting Complex, with Rivers Hoopers claiming an 81-60 win over Stade Malien on Saturday.
The opening game got off to a scrappy start, but Stade Malien were more organised than Rivers Hoopers and led 23-16 at the end of the first quarter, inspired by Mahamane Coulibaly's 12 early points. Coulibaly would go on to finish as the game's leading scorer with 20.
Rivers Hoopers head coach Ogoh Odaudu said in his post-match press conference: "I think what happened in the first quarter was just the jitters of the first game... It was a good thing that we got our act together when we were supposed to.
"We are not playing at the level that we want to play at right now."
The Nigerian side began to find some rhythm in the second quarter. A left hook from Canadian Kelvin Amayo gave the team from Port Harcourt a 24-23 lead within the first two minutes after tip-off. After a Stade Malien timeout, the lead exchanged hands back and forth.
American Raphiael Putney, a veteran journeyman in the NBA's G League, had got the game off to a slow start but when he came back on the court late in the second quarter, he was reinvigorated at both ends of the court and helped the Kings Men take a 41-35 lead into half-time.
Rivers Hoopers pulled away in the third quarter, taking a 62-47 lead into the break. The likes of Amayo, Putney, Madut Akec and Peter Olisemeka were proving too difficult to contain.
The final quarter was mostly one-way traffic as Shamba Maxi Munanga (11 points) became the fourth Rivers Hoopers player to hit double figures in terms of points on the night, joining Amayo (19), Akec (16) and Putney (14).
Olisemeka was the game-leader for rebounds with 12, while his teammate Akec got 11 to secure a double-double and Stade Malien's Mouhamed Doumbya scored 18 points and got 11 rebounds.
It was not quite vintage Rivers Hoopers, but last season's third-placed team did enough to get off to a winning start.
Rivers Hoopers will face Kalahari Conference hosts FUS Rabat in their next match in the late tip-off on Sunday. FUS started their tournament with a 71-60 defeat to Al Ittihad.
The BAL airs on ESPN's channels in Africa.