Dwight Ramos caught fire in the final frame, carrying Toyama to a 99-91 stunner against Akita in the 2021-22 B.League season, Saturday at Toyama City Gymnasium.
Down 34-47 heading into the second half, Ryumo Ono and Julian Mavunga teamed up in a 36-point third quarter to turn things around. An Ono trey with 29 seconds left in the quarter gave the Grouses a 69-68 lead.
Then Ramos happened.
To start the final frame, the Grouses went on a blistering 16-4 rally with Ramos scoring the last eight points of the rally, giving his side an 86-73 lead with 5:53 left.
Colton Iverson tried to stop the Northern Happinets’ bleeding but Ramos was not to be denied.
Ramos drained a booming trey with 4:10 left followed by another bucket with 2:42 remaining that maintained Toyama’s double-digit lead.
Though a late four-point play by Jordan Glynn cut the lead to just seven with 31 ticks on the clock, a split on the stripe by Naoki Uto and a couple more by Ramos sealed the win for Toyama.
Ramos ended up with 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting, 16 in the fourth quarter. The 6-foot-4 winger also had five steals, three rebounds, and an assist, leading Toyama to a 10-17 record.
Bryce Johnson also had 22 points with 15 rebounds; Uto got 14 points and nine assists; Julian Mavunga tallied 16 points, five rebounds, and five assists; while Joshua Smith added 10 points and nine rebounds before fouling out late in the game.
Akita, who fell to 17-10, was led by the 19 points each of Glynn and Noboru Hasegawa.
Takatoshi Furukawa added 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting while Alex Davis chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds. Iverson also grabbed 11 rebounds but was limited to just five points.
The two teams square off again tomorrow.
