HITACHI, IBARAKI PREF. ¨C Gloria Gaynor¡¯s ¡°I will Survive¡± was playing in the arena. The Tsukuba Robots intentionally did so and that was their message: they have made a fresh start.

The Ibaraki Prefecture-based team played its first game under new management on Saturday, two days after it was officially approved by the NBL on Thursday. The Robots fell to the Chiba Jets 79-50 at Kuji Sunpia Sports Center.

Forward Ryumo Ono hit four 3-pointers for 20 points to guide the Jets (8-9). Justin Burrell racked up 19 points and 10 rebounds for them.

For Tsukuba, Americans Lamar Sanders and Justin Reynolds led the team with 17 and 14 points, respectively.

The Robots, who entered the game with five newly acquired players, allowed the Jets to get off to a 17-0 start from the tipoff and had a disastrous first half. But they regrouped a little bit in the latter half. Tsukuba outscored its Eastern Conference foe 19-13 in the final quarter.

Nevertheless, Tsukuba couldn¡¯t snap its losing streak and remained winless (0-17).

A total of 10 Robots players had left as they couldn¡¯t agree to new contracts with the new management company, led by ex-NBL COO Takashi Yamaya.

According to their interim head coach Keita Iwashita, they had only six of their 10 registered players for their practice on Friday. He added that the team checked on its tactics with the entire squad, coming to the venue early before Saturday¡¯s game.

¡°The situations we¡¯ve been in, that¡¯s something we can¡¯t help,¡± said the 28-year-old Iwashita, who had served as an assistant and interpreter for head coach Donte¡¯ Hill, who didn¡¯t sign a new contract with the new company.

¡°I think, putting the outcome and figures aside, our players lived up to our expectations well.¡±

Some players broke into tears after the final buzzer. Forward/center Tomoya Nakamura, who had re-signed with the team, said that his tears came from both the relieve and frustration of his own performance in the game.

¡°I wanted to play for this team once more,¡± said Nakamura, who originally joined the 10 players that left the club at the end of last month, still with tears in his eyes. ¡°But I felt I¡¯d be sorry had the team disappeared (for not having enough members).¡±

Veteran point guard Kazuyuki Nakagawa parted ways with the 10 players as well. In fact, he had no hesitations about staying with the team.

¡°Tsukuba had once lost its basketball team (the Daytrick Tsukuba of the JBL second division was going to participate in the NBL last season, but called it off due to their financial woes),¡± Nakagawa said. ¡°And I was hearing voices from around me that if it was going to happen one more time, basketball wouldn¡¯t survive here.¡±