Bobby Ray Parks Jr. and Nagoya struggled late as they suffered a 92-101 loss by Gunma in the 2021-22 B.League season, Saturday at the Ota City Athletic Park Citizen’s Gymnasium.
Up by two, 82-80, thanks to baskets from Parks and Scott Eatherton, the Diamond Dolphins could not put up points in strings. Meanwhile, the Crane Thunders went on a huge endgame run.
Trey Jones took over, making a living on the charity stripe by scoring eight points and giving Gunma a 90-86 lead with 3:51 left.
Though Parks and Eatherton tried to pump some life to Nagoya, Jones just waxed hot. Then Ondrej Balvin and Michael Parker scored big buckets as well to stave of Nagoya.
Jones scored 22 of his 28 points in the final quarter, going 7-of-9 from the field and 13-of-17 from the foul stripe. He also had seven assists, six rebounds, and three steals.
Aki Chambers got 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Parker had 16 points on an 8-of-11 shooting clip, seven rebounds, two steals, and two blocks; meanwhile, Justin Keenan chipped in 15 points.
Gunma went up to 3-7 in the east while dropping Nagoya to an even 5-5 slate in the west.
Parks, who came off the bench, went a plus-13 in the contest, tallying eight points and four rebounds.
Eatherton paced the Diamond Dolphins with 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting, nine rebounds, and two steals. Coty Clarke got 19 points and five rebounds.
The duo of Takumi Saito and Tatsuya Ito finished with 12 points and eight assists; and 13 points and five assists, respectively.
The two teams face off again tomorrow at 2:05 PM.
