Rivers Hoopers demolished Coal City Miners 90-39 in their opening game of the Nigeria Premier Basketball League (NPBL) at the Indoor Sports Hall of the Akure Township Stadium on Thursday.

The KingsMen who were at the inaugural edition of the Basketball Africa League held in Kigali this year ensured they began their NPBL outing with a comprehensive win against Coal City.

Top scorers Benjamin Ikechukwu, Buchi Nwaiwu and Emmanuel Balogun combined for 39 points.

Ikechukwu scored 18 points including 4 three pointers, Nwaiwu added 11 points while Balogun contributed 10 points.

The KingsMen led with as much as 19 points (37-18) at halftime and extended the momentum in the second half.

With 34 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Ronald Alalibo shot from behind the arc his third 3-pointer of the game and stretched Hoopers lead to 34 points.

Coal City were limited to just 8 points in the fourth as they could not withstand the firepower of the three-time Nigeria Premier League Champions.

The Port Harcourt-based side shot 11 three pointers and made 9 of 11 from the free-throw line in the entire game.

In other games decided on Thursday, Camac withstood the invasion of Invaders of Ekiti to pick their first win in the competition.

It was an unforgettable afternoon for Police Batons of Lagos as they came back from a double digit deficit to defeat Ondo Raiders.

The Raiders lost their way in the second half to surrender their lead and eventually losing the game by 20 points as the Police team posted 59-39 points win.

The last game of the day saw another dominant second half performance by Kwara Falconas they overcame a slow start to record a 66-55 points against Raptors of Lagos.

Competition resumes on Friday with Invaders taking on Lagos Islanders after which Rivers Hoopers will tackle Police Baton in the Atlantic Conference,.

Unbeaten Kwara Falcons will face CAMAC of Lagos while Ondo Raiders will square up against Lagos Raptors.

No game will be played in the Savannah Conference.