Javi Gomez de Liano shone in an otherwise uneventful outing for Ibaraki.
The 6-foot-5 guard scored a career-high 14 points during the short-handed Robots’ 77-107 loss to the Yokohama B-Corsairs in the 2021-22 B.League season, Sunday at Hitachi City Ikenokawa Sakura Arena.
Ibaraki only had eight players in the contest as the team had struggled with the COVID-19 outbreak in the city.
Making the most of his playing time, the University of the Philippines product fired four treys in the contest with three assists, a rebound, and an assist in 23 minutes of gametime.
Gomez de Liano’s previous high was 13 points which he set back on November 10 against Shibuya.
Still, it was a struggle for the Robots, especially in the last 20 minutes of the contest.
Down by just one at the half, the B-Corsairs went on a 28-point third quarter with Leyton Hammonds and Patrik Auda leading the way.
Entering the final frame, Yokohama was up 78-65.
It was all Yokohama from there as Kai King and the rest of the B-Corsairs torched Ibaraki while limiting them to just 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting to close out the game.
Yokohama rose to 18-31 while dropping Ibaraki to 13-32.
Hammonds led Yokohama with 25 points while Masaaki Morikawa added 18 points. Auda scattered 15 points, nine rebounds, and six assists; King fired 13 points; while Yuki Kawamura dished out 17 assists with nine points.
Chehales Tapscott paced Ibaraki with 23 points and eight rebounds while Eric Jacobsen got 15 points.
Ibaraki will head back to Adastria Mito Arena on Wednesday to take on Gunma.
