Kobe Paras and Chiba saw their five-game winning streak come to an end as they were ambushed by tYamagata, 77-90, in the 2022-23 B.League Division II season, Saturday at the Oamishirasato Arena.
It was an unexpected loss by Altira which entered the game with a 7-2 record and a chance to remain tied with two other teams atop the leaderboard.
But Yamagata had other plans as they broke away from a tight third quarter by scoring 28 points in the fourth while limiting Chiba to just 14.
Yamagata import Thomas Welsh terrorized Chiba as he registered seven blocks to make the paint a virtual no man’s land.
Paras scored 10 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field, although he missed all four of his attempts from three. This is the fourth time in five games that he has scored in double figures.
Paras and Chiba will get another crack at Yamagata on Sunday at the same venue.
Over at the Ota Gymnasium, Jordan Heading’s Nagasaki improved its slate to 8-3 after an impressive 84-65 victory over home team Tokyo Z.
Nagasaki led from start to finish Tokyo Z which has now lost its ninth game in 11 outings to remain at the bottom of the standings.
Three players had double figures for Nagasaki.
Six-foot-eight Pablo Aguilar led the way with 20 points, while fellow import Matt Bonds shot seven of ten to finish with 19 points.
Heading, the top-scoring Filipino import in the entire B. League with his average of 14.6 points, dropped 12 points, all coming from the three-point range.
