As promised, the Filipinos in the Asia All-Stars schooled the Rising Stars in the 2023 B.League All-Star festivities, taking a 118-114 victory, Friday evening at Adastria Mito Arena.
Every Asian import scored in the contest. Matthew Wright of Kyoto led the way with 14 points with nine rebounds.
“It was a great time, just seeing the fans especially the little kids enjoy the game,” said Wright, who is also a two-time PBA All-Star MVP. “It reminds me of when I was their age watching the NBA or any kind of basketball for that matter, dreaming one day to play at some kind of All-Star festivities.”
Greg Slaughter of Fukuoka got 12 points and nine boards. Kobe Paras of Altiri Chiba chipped in 12 markers as well.
Both Jordan Heading of Nagasaki and Ray Parks of Nagoya also got 11 points apiece.
“I had so much fun tonight, I hope everybody who watched really enjoyed it,” said Shiga’s Kiefer Ravena, who tallied eight points, five assists, three rebounds, and two assists. Kiefer’s brother Thirdy of San-En also produced seven points, five assists, and four rebounds.
Chinese import Wang Weijia of Akita led all Asian imports with 18 points and seven rebounds. Meanwhile, Indonesian Brandon Jawato of Mikawa scored 10 markers as well.
Taiki Okada of Sendai scored a game-high 26 points for the Rising Stars. Yudai Nishida of Sendai added 18 markers.
The Scores:
Asia All-Stars 118 – Wang 18, Wright 14, Paras 12, Slaughter 12, Heading 11, Parks 11, Jawato 10, Yang 9, Ravena K. 8, Ravena T. 7, Cheon 3, Adams 3.
Rising Stars 114 – Okada 26, Nishida 18, Sato 12, Kawamata 10, Terashima 7, Masuda 7, Sugimoto 7, Yoshii 6, Toews 6, Hachimura 5, Flippin 4, Inoue 2, Kuzuhara 2, Donley 2, Saito 0.
Quarterscores: 34-22, 69-49, 86-80, 118-114.
