Hoops & Read fight back to hand Rivers Hoppers first defeat of 2026 NPBL season

Hoops & Read fight back to hand Rivers Hoppers first defeat of 2026 NPBL season

Rivers Hoopers stumbled to a narrow 70-65 defeat against Hoops & Read on Day Four of Atlantic Conference Group A action at the ongoing 2026 Nigeria Basketball Premier League (NPBL) Phase I in Ibadan on Wednesday afternoon.

Despite building a 14-point lead a few minutes into the third quarter, the KingsMen lost their rhythm as Hoops & Read rallied to cut down the deficit to 4 points heading into a decisive fourth quarter, where they outscored the KingsMen 21-12.

Hoops & Read benefited from uncharacteristically poor handling by Rivers Hoopers and scored 25 points from 21 turnovers as the KingsMen struggled with control. Interim Head Coach Ronald Alalibo attributed the outcome to poor decision-making.

"We were not being religious to certain things that we were doing; our decision-making became hasty, and at that point we started making unforced errors," he said.

Despite out-rebounding their opponents 48-44, the KingsMen conceded their highest number of free throws made for the 2026 NPBL season so far (17) and were – for the first time this season – outscored from the bench (38-23) in a performance which Alalibo described as below par.

"Today's performance is outrightly below the bar," he stated. "We expected to be better, but today we played way below our level. We are disappointed by the loss; we have to learn from the loss, and we'll move on to our next game, making corrections as we go along."

He however, insisted on making adjustments ahead of their next outing.

"We've taken note of these things, and moving on, we have to correct these things. So we'll approach the next game with the mindset of trying to limit those errors to the barest minimum."

Johnson Anaiye, who scored 9 points during the defeat, attributed the outcome to fatigue and a poor defensive approach.

"I feel we didn't really play so bad, and at the same time we didn't really play as good as we ought to," he explained. "We've been playing for four straight days, so something like this result was expected. But overall we didn't really play good defense on them, and I feel that was one of the reasons we lost the game."

The point guard, however, insisted that with improved intensity and zero tolerance for complacency, the KingsMen will bounce back from the loss.

"It's just to intensify our defense in the next game. The fact you won at first does not mean you're still going to win the next game. We're playing this series in a home-and-away format. We need to come out and play the second game the same way we played the first game. I feel if we do that, we're going to pick all the remaining games."

Team captain Victor Koko, who scored 18 points when Rivers Hoopers beat Hoops & Read 84-58 on Gameday One, put up a team-high 13 points along with 6 rebounds. John Idoga (the only other KingsMan to hit double figures) scored 10 points, while Abel Offia grabbed 8 points and 7 rebounds, with Victor Sunday contributing 8 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Rivers Hoopers next face Comets BC on Gameday five in Ibadan.

The six-time Nigerian champions beat Comets by a 30-point margin on Gameday Two. Nevertheless, according to Alalibo, his team must approach Thursday's encounter with a renewed mindset.

"We'll approach it with a different mentality," he said. "We'll go back and have a talk about the way we approached this game. This game is like an eye-opener that our team is beatable. So we'll go back home, speak about certain things we did wrong, try to correct it, then try to approach it [our next game] with a positive mindset."