Kobe Paras and world import Rosco Allen joined hands as Niigata Albirex BB fended off Thirdy Ravena and the San-En NeoPhoenix, 77-64, in the first of their back-to-back games in B.League at the Toyohashi City General Gymnasium in Aichi, Japan on Saturday, October 9.
Paras unloaded 21 points built on four treys on an efficient 8-of-16 clip from the field to go with five rebounds and two blocks while Allen exploded with 23 points and added eight boards to help Niigata notch its second straight win in the tournament.
Ravena, despite the loss, didn’t disappoint in his match-up with Paras, carrying the load for San-En with team-high 16 points with four assists and three steals.
Niigata came out firing in the opening frame as it took a 23-11 lead after the first 10 minutes of play, with Paras anchoring the offense and scattering 11 of his total in the blistering first half when Niigata built a comfortable lead that went to as high as 15 points.
Just like in its game against Shiga Lakestars last week, the NeoPhoenix, behind Ravena's eight points, put up a brave third quarter stand where it cut the lead down to just three points, 44-47, following a long jumper from import Knox halfway through the frame.
Niigata, however, quickly doused the San-En rally with two free throws from Allen and a timely triple from Paras to rebuild a nine-point advantage 53-44.
San-En tried to stage another fightback numerous times but Niigata simply had answers to every NeoPhoenix run to put the fight out of the home team.
The NeoPhoenix will have less than 24 hours to go back to the drawing board and put up a plan against Niigata when the two team squares off once more on Sunday, 1 PM (Manila Time)