2025 Rivers Hoopers season

Rivers Hoopers

2025 season
Head coach	Ogoh Odaudu
NPL	Quarterfinalist (eliminated by APR)
←  2024 2026  →

The 2025 Rivers Hoopers season is the 20th season in club history and the 3rd season of the team in the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The Hoopers will play in the Nigerian Premier League (NPL) as defending champions. They were eliminated in the BAL quarterfinals by APR.

Roster

Will Perry signed with ASC Ville de Dakar, John Wilkins retired.

Meanwhile, Kelvin Amayo, who led the team to the 2024 Nigerian Premier League title, returned to the Hoopers. Madut Akec, who played in the 2024 BAL season with AS Douanes, was also signed.

BAL roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

2025 Rivers Hoopers roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age SG 2 Offia, Abel 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 20 – (2005-02-14)14 February 2005 PG 5 Afuwape, Micheal 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 26 – (1998-08-17)17 August 1998 PF 7 Nwaiwu, Onyebuchi 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 26 – (1998-08-20)20 August 1998 10 Anaiye, Johnson 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 27 – (1997-11-06)6 November 1997 PG 11 Shamba, Maxi Munanga 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 31 – (1993-12-25)25 December 1993 SG 12 Akec, Madut  (I) 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 26 – (1999-01-01)1 January 1999 SG 13 Amayo, Kelvin 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 33 – (1992-01-09)9 January 1992 C 14 Olisemeka, Peter 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 33 – (1991-12-09)9 December 1991 PF 15 Sani, Samuel 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) 17 – (2007-07-09)9 July 2007 SF 23 Koko Jr., Ifeanyi 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 20 – (2004-12-08)8 December 2004 SF 24 Putney, Raphiael  (I) 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) 35 – (1990-04-21)21 April 1990 PF 28 Ike, David  (E) 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) 17 – (2007-07-16)16 July 2007 SG 45 Abah, Ogbodeje 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) 18 – (2006-12-12)12 December 2006	Head coach Ogoh Odaudu Assistant coach(es) Abdulrahman Mohammed Legend (C) Team captain (I) Import player (E): BAL Elevate player Injured Roster Updated: April 4, 2025

Transactions

Additions

Date	Player	Former team
March 13, 2025	Jackson Makoi [1]	Cairns Taipans
March 13, 2025	Madut Akec	AS Douanes
March 23, 2025	Raphiael Putney [2]	Pioneros de Los Mochis
March 26, 2025	Maxi Munanga Shamba [3]

Subtractions

Date	Player	New team
October 26, 2024	Devine Eke [4]	Santa Cruz Warriors
February 26, 2025	Will Perry [5]	ASC Ville de Dakar
	John Wilkins	Retired

Games

BAL

Main article: 2025 BAL season

Nile Conference

The Hoopers were placed in the Kalahari Conference, which began on 5 April 2025 and was held in Rabat, Morocco.

See also: 2025 BAL season group phase § Kalahari Conference

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	PCT	Qualification
1	Al Ittihad Alexandria	6	6	0	526	428	+98	1.000	Advance to playoffs
2	Rivers Hoopers	6	4	2	484	466	+18	.667
3	FUS Rabat (H)	6	2	4	456	475	−19	.333
4	Stade Malien	6	0	6	395	492	−97	.000

Source: BAL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

Stade Malien v Rivers Hoopers

5 April 2025	Stade Malien	60–81	Rivers Hoopers	Rabat, Morocco
16:00	Scoring by quarter: 23–16, 12–25, 12–21, 13–19
	Pts: Coulibaly 20 Rebs: Doumbya 11 Asts: Coulibaly 6	Boxscore	Pts: Amayo 19 Rebs: Olisemeka 12 Asts: Akec, Shamba 4	Arena: Salle Moulay Abdellah Attendance: 3,329 Referees: Ian Mcclenny, Oumar Sy, Natascha Onono

Rivers Hoopers v FUS Rabat

6 April 2025	Rivers Hoopers	88–82	FUS Rabat	Rabat, Morocco
19:00	Scoring by quarter: 23–17, 27–25, 15–25, 23–15
	Pts: Akec 25 Rebs: Olisemeka 14 Asts: Shamba 6	Boxscore	Pts: Zouzoua 21 Rebs: Jordan 9 Asts: Jordan 11	Arena: Salle Moulay Abdellah Attendance: 4,372 Referees: Leah Lanie, Erik Aellig, Didier Gaga

Rivers Hoopers v Al Ittihad Alexandria

8 April 2025	Rivers Hoopers	80–100	Al Ittihad Alexandria	Rabat, Morocco
17:00	Scoring by quarter: 23–25, 19–27, 23–29, 15–19
	Pts: Akec 18 Rebs: Putney 6 Asts: Shamba 8	Boxscore	Pts: Vinales 26 Rebs: Mahmoud 7 Asts: Vinales 7	Arena: Salle Moulay Abdellah Attendance: 1,015 Referees: Leah Lanie, Arnold Moseya, Didier Gaga

FUS Rabat v Rivers Hoopers

10 April 2025	FUS Rabat	71–79	Rivers Hoopers	Rabat, Morocco
20:00	Scoring by quarter: 19–20, 17–11, 22–22, 13–26
	Pts: Fofana 14 Rebs: Diagne 9 Asts: Zouita 6	Boxscore	Pts: Akec 17 Rebs: Olisemeka 13 Asts: Amayo 7	Arena: Salle Moulay Abdellah Attendance: 4,978 Referees: Erik Aellig, Oumar Sy, Dorothy Okatch

Al Ittihad Alexandria v Rivers Hoopers

12 April 2025	Al Ittihad Alexandria	94–77	Rivers Hoopers	Rabat, Morocco
16:00	Scoring by quarter: 19–19, 30–10, 26–27, 19–21
	Pts: Deng 18 Rebs: Mahmoud 10 Asts: Vinales 7	Boxscore	Pts: Akec 17 Rebs: Olisemeka 16 Asts: Amayo 8	Arena: Salle Moulay Abdellah Referees: Ian Mcclenny, Yann Vezo Davidson, Natascha Onono

Rivers Hoopers v Stade Malien

13 April 2025	Rivers Hoopers	79–59	Stade Malien	Rabat, Morocco
16:00	Scoring by quarter: 27–21, 27–10, 20–7, 15–21
	Pts: Putney 15 Rebs: Olisemeka 9 Asts: Olisemeka 6	Boxscore	Pts: Tounkara 14 Rebs: Doumbya 8 Asts: Sane 3	Arena: Salle Moulay Abdellah Referees: Julian McFadden, Erick Otieno, Sarty Nghixulifwa

Playoffs

See also: 2025 BAL playoffs

Seeding game

US Monastir v Rivers Hoopers

7 June 2025	US Monastir	89–81	Rivers Hoopers	Pretoria, South Africa
19:00	Scoring by quarter: 14–16, 18–20, 34–26, 23–19
	Pts: Sané 22 Rebs: Lahyani 7 Asts: Hardy 9	Boxscore	Pts: Putney 28 Rebs: Olisemeka 10 Asts: Maxi Munanga 4	Arena: SunBet Arena Attendance: 5,052 Referees: Pat O'Connell, Jean Sauveur Ruhamiriza, Oumar Sy

Quarterfinals

Rivers Hoopers v APR

9 June 2025	Rivers Hoopers	73–104	APR	Pretoria, South Africa
16:00	Scoring by quarter: 11–24, 21–33, 20–26, 21–21
	Pts: Akec 21 Rebs: Garba, Olisemeka 7 Asts: Akec 4	Boxscore	Pts: Omot 21 Rebs: Diarra 9 Asts: Randle 10	Arena: SunBet Arena Attendance: 1,803 Referees: Pat O'Connell, Arnold Moseya, Amir Taboubi

References

1. @RiversHoopers (14 March 2025). "South Sudanese point guard Jackson Makoi joins #TheKingsMen for @thebal 5" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 March 2024– via Twitter.
2. "Rivers Hoopers sign American Putney for BAL challenge". The Nation Newspaper. 22 March 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
3. "Congo DR Maxi Munanga Shamba joins Rivers Hoopers". Gongnews. 22 March 2025. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
4. "Santa Cruz Warriors Select Seth Maxwell, Tommy Rutherford, and Devine Eke in the 2024 NBA G League Draft". NBA.com. 26 October 2024. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
5. Basketsenegal (26 February 2025). "BAL 2025 - Will Perry, Abdoulaye Harouna et Ater Majok à l'ASC Ville de Dakar | Basketsenegal". Basketsenegal (in French). Archived from the original on 28 February 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2025.