Despite not having Dwight Ramos, Toyama was able to rack up a 96-88 win over Ibaraki in the 2021-22 B.League season, Saturday at Adastria Mito Arena.
Up by as much as 15 points in the contest, the Grouses dwindle down to just three, 87-84, after an Eric Jacobsen bucket with 1:20 left. Leading the Robots uprising were Asahi Tajima and Chehales Tapscott.
Though Brice Johnson tried to stop the Toyama bleeding, two free throws from Tajima kept Ibaraki within striking distance.
Joshua Smith would take charge for Toyama, scoring on an and-one. Two big free throws courtesy of Keijuro Matsui, followed by a Naoki Uto shot, sealed the deal for the Grouses.
The Grouses went up to 14-20 while dealing the Robots their fourth straight loss to fall to 6-26.
Smith played big for Toyama, dropping 29 points on 9-of-9 shooting with nine rebounds. Johnson got 22 points and 15 rebounds, while Matsui stepped up in lieu of Ramos, finishing with 20 points.
Marc Trasolini had 20 points to lead Ibaraki. Jacobsen and Tapscott got 19 and 18 points, respectively, with the latter also grabbing nine rebounds.
Javi Gomez de Liano, who had been sidelined since January 3, returned, playing a minute and 14 seconds. He committed two fouls during that span.
The two teams meet again tomorrow.
