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Niigata loses to Kyoto as Kobe Paras impresses in B.League debut

Sports | Basketball

Niigata loses to Kyoto as Kobe Paras impresses in B.League debut

By Jonas Terrado

Photo from Niigata Albirex

Kobe Paras scored 25 points in an impressive debut but Niigata Albirex absorbed an 85-81 home loss to the Kyoto Hannaryz in its B.League season opener Saturday, Oct. 2 at the City Hall Plaza Aore in Nagaoka, Japan.

Paras waxed hot in the first half to help Niigata rally from an early deficit but he and the rest of the team cooled off in the fourth quarter which allowed Kyoto to sneak out a victory in the first of their two-game weekend series.

It was a stellar performance despite the disappointing outcome for Paras, who was the first Filipino to open his 2021-22 campaign in the Land of the Rising Sun.

He made 8-of-16 shots with a variety of jumpshots and drives to the hoops while adding four assists and two steals in 33 minutes, numbers which will make proud his father Benjie Paras, the PBA legend who ironically turned 53 on the day of his son’s first game in Japan.

Paras scored his team’s first basket with a jumper from 18 feet about 40 seconds in the contest, then erupted for 20 by halftime as Niigata rallied from being down 12 in the opening period to take a 50-41 lead.

But Kyoto came back and made it a seesaw affair until the final four minutes when it scored five unanswered to take an 84-79 lead. Niigata got to within three but couldn’t convert a pair of game-tying shots from downtown in the dying seconds.

Not helping Paras and Niigata’s cause was a 5-of-18 shooting in the fourth.

Rosco Allen was the other Niigata player in double figures with 19 while former PBA import Justin Harper, who had a stint with GlobalPort in 2017, paced Kyoto with 21 points and six rebounds.

Related Tags

Kobe Paras Japan B.League

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