Kobe Paras’ heroics went for naught as Niigata suffered a heartbreaking 75-77 loss at the hands of Mikawa to close out their Week Four B.League campaign, Saturday at the Niigata City East Sports Center.
Down 73-75 with 2.5 ticks left, Paras knocked down a big-time floater to knot things up.
Off a timeout, the Seahorses designed a play for its big man Davante Gardner. Gardner decided to post up Tshilidzi Nephawe before converting on a sky hook.
With no timeouts left and just 1.3 seconds remaining, Kimitake Sato threw a 3/4 court prayer that did not even hit rim as the Albirex’s losing streak was extended to five games.
Paras finished with six points on 3-of-9 shooting with five rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Gardner had 23 points for Mikawa while Yudai Nishida added 12. Kyle Colinsworth and Satoshi Nagano chipped 11 points each, as well.
Niigata fell to 2-6 as well while Mikawa went up to 6-2.
Rosco Allen once again had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds while supporting him was Nephawe, who had 16 points and seven rebounds.
Paras and Albirex will next head to Arena Tachikawa Tachihi to face Tokyo on Wednesday at 6:05PM (Manila time).
