Ibaraki snapped its three-game losing skid, upsetting the Dwight Ramos-less Toyama, 85-79, in the 2021-22 B.League season, Sunday at Adastria Mito Arena.
The Robots had a strong start in the contest, leading 35-10 to end the opening frame and by as much as 26 points in the contest.
Behind the trio of Brice Johnson, Joshua Smith, and Naoki Uto, the Grouses were able to claw back, knotting things up at 79-all with 1:11 remaining in the game.
Two free throws by Asahi Tajima stopped the Ibaraki bleeding while misses by Uto and Keijuro Matsui led to free throws for Eric Jacobsen with six seconds left.
A desperation trey by Johnson missed on the other end to seal the win for the Robots.
Ibaraki went up to 7-26 in the standings while dropping Toyama to 14-21.
Chehales Tapscott powered the Robots in the win, producing 16 points and eight rebounds. Jacobsen added 14 points and seven rebounds while sparkplugs Keita Tsurumaki and Tajima got 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Javi Gomez de Liano played just a minute and 15 seconds in the contest.
Johnson paced the Grouses with 24 points and 11 rebounds while Smith tallied 18 points and 13 boards.
Ibaraki and Toyama will have a month-long break with the former facing Tokyo on March 5 and 6 while the latter taking on Shiga on March 2.
Over at White Ring, Shinshu completed its weekend sweep of Kyoto with a dominant 72-51 win.
(C) B.League
It was a defensive masterpiece for the Brave Warriors, who limited the Hannaryz to just 15 points in the first half and led by as much as 39 points in the contest.
Shinshu, who went up to 16-17 in the standings, was led by Josh Hawkinson with a line of 16 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists.
Matthew Aquino played five minutes in the game, tallying three rebounds.
Justin Harper finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds for Kyoto while Jerome Tillman chipped in 12 points but shot just 2-of-10 from the field.
Kyoto dropped to 7-25 in the standings.
Up next for Shinshu is Hiroshima next weekend also at White Ring.
