JBL – Panasonic on the rise; Aisin salvage a game

TOKYO (JBL) - League leaders Aisin Sea Horses’ tale of mixed results continued for the third weekend in a row, this time against second place Panasonic Trians.

Aisin won the first of two games between the top two teams on Saturday without much trouble, 79-63, but a day later were caught napping and went down 80-77.

Combined with Toyota’s twin successes over last-place Hokkaido - 72-64 and 84-74 – Aisin's series split means their lead is now down to two wins.

Kosuke Takeuchi led Aisin’s charge on Saturday with 22 points and 10 rebounds and was well helped by naturalised American JR Sakuragi who displayed his versatility with 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.


Jerald Honeycutt had 16 points and nine rebounds for Panasonic in the loss.

Honeycutt was subdued on Sunday, but Panasonic found their heroes in the local talent with four players sharing the scoring honours scoring 13 points each.

Down 23-19 at the end of the first quarter, they fought back with a 28-19 run in the second.

Hironori Watanabe scored all 13 of his points in that pivotal period and Takanori Onishi had nine of his 13 during the spurt.

Panasonic's second quarter advantage proved decisive in the end especially when Aisin rallied to outscore them 23-17 in the final frame.

Shinnosuke Negoro, who was rested for Saturday’s game, also scored 13 points as did Fumihiko Aono.

Aono (pictured) collected 13 rebounds.

Takeuchi and Sakuragi led Aisin’s charge on Sunday too. The former had 17 points and 10 rebounds, while the latter had another impressive all-round game with 16 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

In other double-headers, Hitachi shared the spoils with Tochigi Brex as did Toshiba with Mitsubishi.

Tochigi won 65-61 on Saturday, but Hitachi bounced back a day later for an 84-58 win.

Toshiba prevailed 79-75 on Saturday, but Mitsubishi hit back 72-70 on Sunday.

JBL Standings

1. Aisin Sea Horses 22-8
2. Panasonic Trians 20-10
3. Toyota Alvark 20-10
4. Toshiba Brave Thunders 15-15
5. Hitachi Sunrockers 14-16
6. Tochigi Brex 11-19
7. Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins 10-20
8. Rera Kamuy Hokkaido 8-22

FIBA Asia