In a battle of two contenders in the 2021-22 B.League season, Nagoya came up on top, edging Tokyo, 86-80, Wednesday at Arena Tachikawa Tachihi.
With the win, the Diamond Dolphins climbed up to 21-9 to remain at solo second in the West Division while also going up to third overall in the standings. Tokyo, meanwhile, fell to 21-8 to drop to third in the East District.
Against one of the top offensive teams in the league, Nagoya relied on its trademark defense early, leading 47-35 at the half and 56-40 early in the third frame.
Takumi Saito provided the early spark while Shayne Whittington had a huge third quarter that gave the Diamond Dolphins enough cushion for the expected Alvark fourth quarter rally.
Behind the duo of Jordan Taylor and Daiki Tanaka, Tokyo fought back, eventually cutting the lead down to five, 81-76, after a Tanaka bucket with 2:17 left.
Saito though provided the clutch buckets to seal Nagoya’s third straight win.
Saito led the way for Nagoya with 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field with six assists and three rebounds. Whittington got 15 points and six rebounds while Coty Clarke added 12 points, four rebounds, and four assists.
Parks was also instrumental in the win, tallying 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field with four rebounds and an assist in 26 minutes of action.
Taylor and Sebastian Saiz paced Alvark with 18 and 17 points respectively, with the latter also grabbing 14 rebounds. Ryan Rossiter added 12 points and six rebounds.
Nagoya looks to extend its winning streak to three when it faces Utsunomiya this weekend at Park Arena Komaki.
