B.League Game of the Day: Back-and-Forth To The Very End in Hiroshima
An unassuming game between two Western conference teams provided the most drama and excitement in the midweek slate of B.League games.
Few would have expected the sparks that would emerge between middling Osaka Evessa and the 2-9 Hiroshima Dragonflies on the latter's home court, but when the two tipped off on November 6th they proved never to underestimate the standard of play in Japan.
The game was close from the outset, with the leading changing hands three times until Osaka attempted an early break with a 6-0 run. Hiroshima then had five unanswered on other end and it became a one- point game. Matt Bonds led Osaka's bigs in keeping the team in front, while the Dragonflies' accuracy from three-point range kept the scores close.
With Daiki Tsuchiya navigating heavy traffic in the paint for Evessa, Hiroshima kept it a one-point game until Bonds put the visitors up by seven. After seeing so much efficiency from their big men, Osaka then caught fire from beyond the arc. They went up ten by half time, then plenty of fast break points to begin the second half gave them a lead of 19.
Takuto Nakamura, a thorn in Osaka's side from the start, began to lead a fight back for Hiroshima alongside Ryu Watanabe in the third quarter. Evessa went cold on both ends, opening the door for two separate runs of ten and eleven points from the Dragonflies, bringing the gap down to one.
As time in Q3 wound down Kerry Blackshear started to make his presence felt for Hiroshima, and Nick Mayo put them in front for the first time with a one-handed dunk. Volodymyr Gerun and Takuya Soma began the fourth quarter hitting from the low post for Osaka, which they followed by more fast break points which quickly put them back in front by double digits.
Nakamura proved effective on both ends for Hiroshima, and a three from Toshiki Kamisawa made it a one-point game with just over a minute left, then another from Mayo put Hiroshima in front with 19 seconds to go. Bonds had a chance to win the game for Osaka from the free-throw line, but could only hit one shot when all three were needed.
Mayo grabbed the game's last rebound to make sure of Hiroshima's victory, by a final score of 93-91.
Bonds led all with 24 points for Osaka, five on his team also finishing in double digits. Nakamura was Hiroshima's leading scorer with 23, while Blackshear had 19 and nine total rebounds in the win and Mayo finishing with 12 and 10 assists.
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