Despite losing 33 points to Nwaba, they won with a balanced attack.
Alvark Tokyo and Sanen Neo Phoenix faced off in the semifinals of the “101st Emperor’s Cup All Japan Basketball Championship”.
Although the games were evenly matched in the early stages, A-Tokyo gradually gained the pace after blocking Sanen’s fast pace. In the two-man game against Taves Kai, Sebastian Saiz made sure to score a shot, and in the final stages, Kohei Fukuzawa and Ryan Rossiter also came up with long-range shots. On their last possession, they added a point on their first fast break, giving them a 23-15 lead.
A Tokyo’s pace continued into the second quarter. Against Sanen, who was playing a zone, they turned the ball around and shook it up, and Zack Baranski took advantage of the offensive situation and made two consecutive 3-point shots. A-Tokyo also made a big put-back dunk, and Kohei Fukuzawa made a solid corner three, expanding their lead to 13 points in the first five minutes.
Wanting to fight back, Sanen dropped David Nwaba, who had scored 13 points so far, and scattered passes, activating their offense. Hideya Asai and Kazuya Tsuya hit 3-point shots, and Cameron Jackson also got a basket count from a post play, quickly closing the gap with a 9-0 run. Still, A-Tokyo remained unfazed, and the first half ended at 44-35 with 3-point shots from Marcus Foster and Yasuki Kosakabe.
In the second half, there was a period of patience as neither team was able to find any flow, but Sanen closed the gap with Oura’s pull-up three, closing the gap by five points heading into the final quarter. Nwaba and Oura sank three-point shots in a row, and they finally succeeded in reversing the game within the first minute and a half. After that, a back-and-forth battle continued with Nwaba, Foster and others stealing points from each other, but Kosakabu made the difference in the final stages. Kosakabu continued to attack boldly from the remaining two and a half minutes, when they were behind by four points, scoring six consecutive points from drives, leading to a reversal. On the other hand, Nwaba, who had been attacking with full energy from the beginning, ran out of gas and missed a dunk shot while chasing four points. In this way, A Tokyo maintained a two-possession lead and won 80-75.
For Tokyo, Saiz scored a team-high 17 points, followed by Foster with 16 points, Baranski with 14 points, and Rossiter with 12 points, with four players scoring in double figures. For Sanen, Nwaba scored a game-high 33 points, Jackson scored 14 points, and Oura scored 13 points, but only three players scored in double figures.
The victorious A-Tokyo will play the final match on the 12th against the winner of the Utsunomiya Brex vs. Seahorse Mikawa match.
