Raptors beat Comets as Hoops & Read hand Rivers Hoopers’ first defeat of 2026 season

Pius Ayinor

Rivers Hoopers stumbled to a 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. The match was played on Wednesday afternoon.

In another Matchday 4 game, the Raptors secured a narrow 66-63 win over the struggling Comets, who remain winless after four straight losses.

Comets started strongly, taking the first quarter 27-14. But the Raptors fought back in the second quarter, outscoring their opponents 27-13 to take a 41-40 lead into halftime.

Both teams scored 12 points each in the third quarter, leaving the score at 53-52 heading into the final period. Despite a determined effort from Comets in the fourth quarter, the Raptors’ experience proved decisive as they held on for the slim victory 66-63.

Back in the other game in Ibadan, Hoops & Read responded strongly after the break, scoring 20 points in the third quarter and 23 in the fourth to seal the famous win.

Despite building a 14-point lead a few minutes into the third quarter, the former Basketball Africa League reps 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.

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 Hoops and Read 48-44, the Hoopers 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.”

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 them, then try to approach it [our next game] with a positive mindset.”

Photo: Rivers Hoopers