
Kobe Paras was held scoreless during Niigata Albirex’s vengeful 96-79 win over the Gunma Crane Thunders at home Sunday, Feb. 6 in Japan’s B.League.
Paras played almost 16 minutes and missed all four shots with two rebounds and one assist in the victory that enabled Niigata to get back at the Crane Thunders before their home crowd at the City Hall Plaza in Nagaoka.
Niigata, which the previous day fell 83-64 to Gunma, improved to 5-29 before the league takes a break for the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.
Thirdy Ravena and the San-En Neophoenix suffered their eighth straight defeat after the Ryukyu Golden Kings took a 100-72 victory to sweep the two-game series at the Okinawa Arena.
Ravena scored eight points on 3-of-4 shooting with four rebounds, two assists and one steal in 21 minutes off the bench for the Neophoenix, who fell to 4-27 for dead last in the West.
Three-time PBA Best Import Allen Durham inflicted trouble on San-En and finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds for Ryukyu, which still holds the best record in the B.League at 27-3.
Matthew Aquino and Javi Gomez de Liano once again played limited minutes in their respective teams’ victories.
Aquino failed to score but had three rebounds during a five-minute stint in the Shinshu Brave Warriors’ 72-51 rout of the Kyoto Hannaryz to go 16-17 on the campaign.
Gomez de Liano didn’t register any numbers during his 72-second appearance for the Ibaraki Robots, who took an 85-79 victory over the Toyama Grouses at Mito Arena.
Ibaraki improved to 7-26 while Toyama, playing without Dwight Ramos who is back in the Philippines to join Gilas Pilipinas’ preparation for the World Cup Qualifiers, dropped to 14-21.