Broncos fly out blocks to take down Grouses
GYODA, Saitama Pref. — A day after giving first-year coach Charles Johnson a satisfying victory on his 48th birthday, the Toyama Grouses were handed a bold reminder that they've still got plenty of work to do in their full-fledged reclamation project.
The Grouses trailed from start to finish in an 83-77 loss to the Saitama Broncos on Sunday at Gyoda Green Arena.
Toyama slipped to 8-8; Saitama improved to 8-10.
"They jumped onto us right in the first half. We attempted a comeback and we did our best to get back into the game in the fourth quarter," said Johnson, who wore a slick red tie given to him by Toyama boosters for his birthday.
"We have a long way to go, but we are going to try to keep improving each and every game," said Johnson, a former Saitama coach whose current team went 11-41 in 2008-09. "We are going to keep working and moving forward."
Daiki Terashita's spot-up jumper gave the Broncos a 2-0 lead at the 9:18 mark, and they never looked back.
They led 29-15 after one quarter and took a 49-32 advantage into halftime, when Johnson told his players to tighten their defense and stop giving up as many easy baskets to the hosts.
Saitama moved the ball inside and swung it around the perimeter with poise and purpose. Point guard Mario Jointer handed out a game-best nine assists and scored eight points, getting high praise from Broncos coach Masato Fukushima for his dribble drives in traffic and smart ball-handling decisions.
"Our inside-outside attack was stronger today," Fukushima declared, adding his team's defense picked up its intensity in the rematch as well.
Power forward Kwbana Beckles paced Saitama with 16 points and collected 10 rebounds. Teammate Andrew Arnold had 11 points, 11 boards and three blocked shots. Center Terrence Roberts added 12 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, while shooting guard Taishiro Shimizu was 6-for-8 from the field for 14 points and coolly dished out four assists.
Despite a large halftime deficit, the Grouses whittled away at the lead. Forward Jason Arbet
Toyama, which was 9-for-10 at the free-throw line in the third, including Arbet's 3-for-3, closed out the quarter on a 15-4 run to pull within 63-58.
Grouses forward Jason Underwood's free throw made it 72-67 with 4:33 left, but Roberts pushed the lead back to seven on Saitama's next trip down the floor, and his reverse layup gave the Broncos a nine-point cushion seconds later.
Kirby Lemons' 3-pointer trimmed the lead to 82-77 in the final, but the Grouses fell short of a comeback win.
Lemons led Toyama with 15 points, Takeshi Mito, Brandon Thomas