It’s not just Thirdy Ravena’s San-En that exited the Emperor’s Cup on Monday at the Arena Tachikawa Tachihi in Tokyo.
Shiga suffered a 75-92 loss at the hands of home team Alvark in the penultimate stage of the All-Japan Championship’s third round.
And the Lakestars will look back on Alvark’s huge fourth quarter with regret.
Four straight points by Kiefer Ravena cut Tokyo’s lead down to 69-66 with 7:20 left. Then the hosts went on a 19-2 spurt that stunned the Lakestars.
The rally was sparked by a Genki Kojima trey and capped by a Sebastian Saiz bucket with 2:47 left.
Kiefer had 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field with two steals as he was in foul trouble early in the contest.
Sean O’Mara led the Lakestars with 28 points and eight rebounds, while Ovie Soko added 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Kiefer was not the only foul-plagued player, though. Shiga combined to commit 23 fouls that led to Tokyo shooting a perfect 20-of-20 from the charity stripe.
Tokyo, who will next face Kagawa tomorrow, had a balanced attack with six players scoring in double-figures.
Saiz had 19 points and 17 rebounds, while naturalized Japanese player Ryan Rossiter had 15 points.
Jordan Taylor added 14 points. Genki Kojima and Daiki Tanaka chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively.
The Lakestars will go back to the B.League this weekend to face the Chiba Jets at the Funabashi Arena.
