The Osaka Evessa jumped out to a 12-point lead after the opening quarter and held on for a narrow victory over the Shiga Lakestars on Friday night.

The Evessa¡¯s 86-82 win at Sumiyoshi Sports Center in Osaka raised their season record to 8-7 in the B. League. The Lakestars fell to 2-13.

Florida State alum Xavier Gibson paced Osaka with 19 points and corralled six rebounds. He had two blocks and two steals. Teammates Naoaki Hashimoto and Josh Harrellson both scored 18 points. Harrellson also pulled down 13 boards and swatted a pair of shots.

Takuya Soma finished with nine points for Osaka, which took a 58-57 lead into the final stanza. Takuya Hashimoto drained two 3-pointers in an eight-point performance and Hiroyuki Kinoshita went 2-for-3 from beyond the arc to account for all his scoring in the series opener. Veteran guard Shota Konno chipped in with five points and three steals.

Lakestars newcomer Narito Namizato, who played for Osaka last season, had 22 points, five assists and two steals in his Shiga debut. Teammate Julian Mavunga scored 19 points, Daichi Tanaka had 13 points and five rebounds and Senegalese-born post player Faye Samba added nine points.

The Evessa had better shooting numbers from 3-point range (12-for-24) and at the free-throw line (20 of 25) to seal the win; the Lakestars made 9 of 26 3s and 11 of 17 foul shots.

Second-division update: Also Friday, Rick Rickert scored 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the Ibaraki Robots¡¯ 100-82 win over the Aomori Wat¡¯s. Alan Wiggins Jr. led Aomori with 22 points.

Elsewhere Friday, the Tokyo Excellence defeated the Shinshu Brave Warriors 74-64.

For Tokyo, Luke Evans was the high scorer with 24 points with 12 rebounds.

Shinshu¡¯s Terrance Shannon finished with 17 points, 16 rebounds, four steals and two blocks.

Signing announced: The San-en NeoPhoenix on Friday announced that former NBA swingman Josh Childress has signed a contract to play for the team.

A Stanford University product, the 33-year-old Childress was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft.

The Japan Times first reported the news on Thursday.