Juan Gomez de Liaño played limited minutes in Earthfriends Tokyo Z’s 82-89 loss to Kagawa in the 2021-22 B.League Division II elims, Saturday at the Kanonji City Gymnasium.
Gomez de Liano, who is nursing a minor quad injury, was brought in with 6:42 left and quickly scored on a basket a minute later.
However, back-to-back turnovers led Lopez to pull him back. The 6-foot-1 combo guard did not return to the game.
Down by as much as 11 points, 49-60, late in the third canto, Tokyo Z came clawing back with a 13-2 spurt that bridged the third and final frames.
Terrance Woodbury, Five Arrows’ import, though was able to stop their bleeding.
In the endgame, Shinya Takagi was able to bury a triple to cut the lead down to three, 83-80, with 13 ticks left. Former Shiga import Angus Brandt though was steady on the line, knocking down two free throws to ice the game.
Eddy Norelia paced Tokyo Z with 23 points, seven rebounds, and two assists while Takagi and Joshua Crawford chipped in 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Brandt had a monster game for Kagawa with 26 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field with six rebounds, two assists, and a block. Woodbury added 17 points and eight rebounds.
The two squads face off again tomorrow at 1:00 PM (Manila time).
