Shiga Lakestars. Photo from Shiga Lakestars
MANILA, Philippines—Shiga’s troubles continue to pile up after it lost to Shinshu, 90-80, in the West Conference of the 2021-22 Japan B.League season Sunday at White Ring in Nagano.
The Lakestars, who had a share of the second seed early in the season, dropped their sixth straight game and are now at a difficult 6-8 record while the Brave Warriors improved to 9-5.
Leading 45-34 in the break, the Lakestars were subjected to an offensive storm come the third quarter.
Shinshu outscored Shiga 34-12 in the penultimate frame to take a 68-57 lead heading into the fourth.
The best the Lakestars could do in the fourth was to trim the deficit to seven, 68-61, off of Kiefer Ravena’s jumper, but the Brave Warriors were ready for any comeback bid.
Kumagai Ko buried a three-pointer to put Shinshu up 82-69 with 4:59 to play.
Okada Yuta finished with a game-high 27 points with five rebounds and five assists to lead the Brave Warriors while Kumagai added 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting.
Ravena struggled mightily with seven points, on 2-of-8 shooting, and five turnovers for the Lakestars.
Novar Gadson led Shiga with 22 points, seven rebounds, and six assists.
Matthew Aquino once again logged a DNP for the Brave Warriors.