Shinshu came out flat in its 97th Emperor’s Cup quarterfinals showdown with Ryukyu, suffering a 67-91 loss to bow out of the tournament, Wednesday at Okinawa Arena.
It was a dominant outing by the Golden Kings, racing to an 18-4 start and never looking back.
Ryukyu never cooled down, shooting 53.5-percent from the field while dominating the boards, 47-31.
Shinshu would fall behind by as much as 28 points in the contest, 61-89, after a Jack Cooley putback off of a Hamiltongary Kotera.
With the win, Ryukyu will face Chiba on February 9 in the semifinals of the All-Japan meet.
Cooley had a huge game for Ryukyu, tallying 18 points and 14 rebounds.
Reigning B.League MVP of the month Allen Durham got 16 points, five rebounds, four assists, and two steals while Keito Imamura tallied 14 points on four treys.
Ryuichi Kishimoto chipped in 12 points while Dwayne Evans and Shota Ondera added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Matt Aquino started for Shinshu but was foul-plagued all throughout, fouling out with 7:30 still left in the third canto. The Fil-Japanese big man had two points and three rebounds.
Josh Hawkinson led Shinshu with 17 points, three rebounds, and three assists while Reo Maeda and Louis Kurihara added 12 points each. Ko Kumagai finished with 11 points and seven assists as well.
Shinshu returns to the B.League this weekend, facing Niigata at City Hall Plaza Aore Nagaoka.
