Kobe Paras and Niigata could not recover from a lackadaisical third quarter, falling to Gunma, 64-83, in the 2021-22 B.League season, Saturday at City Hall Plaza Ao-re Nagaoka.
Down by just three, 44-47, midway through the third canto, Albirex’s defense caved in the Crane Thunders to go on a 15-2 blast to blow the game wide open.
Unstoppable was the Gunma trio of Ondrej Balvin, Try Jones, and Michael Parker during the quarter, combining for 16 of their team’s 24 points.
The lead would only grow from there, reaching a peak of 22 points late in the contest.
Gunma went up to 13-17 in the standings while dropping Niigata to 4-28.
Balvin tallied a double-double for Gunma with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Both Jones and Parker got 12 points apiece.
Justin Keenan and Ryo Yamazaki added 11 points each.
Rosco Allen once again was the high-point man for Niigata with 25 points with 13 rebounds. Jeff Ayres got 11 points and six rebounds, while Kobe Paras chipped in seven points, two assists, and two steals.
(C) B.League
Over at White Ring, Matt Aquino and Shinshu stamped their class over lowly Kyoto, 82-58, to capture their third straight win.
Figuring in a close first half, the Brave Warriors clamped Hannaryz in the third frame. They limited their opponents to just six points on 1-of-14 shooting to score the rout.
Wayne Marshall and Josh Hawkinson notched double-doubles in the win. The former tallied 20 points and 10 rebounds, while the latter produced 16 points and 19 rebounds.
Reo Maeda also had 12 points and six assists, as Yuta Okada is still working his way to form.
Matthew Aquino and Yang Jaemin also saw minutes in the game. The Filipino finished with three points in two minutes of game time, while the Korean scored two points.
Shinshu went up to 15-17 while dropping Kyoto to 7-24.
Justin Harper paced the Hannaryz with 18 points, while Kazuki Hosokawa got 14 points.
