The Tochigi Brex ushered in the second half of the B. League season with a resounding victory over the visiting Shiga Lakestars on Thursday night.
The Brex extending their winning streak to four, recording an 80-64 decision in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture.
Tochigi held Shiga to 11 third-quarter points and took a 59-45 lead into the final stanza.
Moments later, the defending champion Brex (14-15) used a 12-0 spurt to increase their cushion to 71-47.
Tochigi veteran forward Jeff Gibbs had a team-best 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting and made two steals. Ryan Rossiter finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block in 24-plus minutes, while Cedric Bozeman chipped in with 10 points. Yusuke Endo and Hironori Watanabe each had nine points for the hosts.
All-Star point guard Yuta Tabuse provided six points for the Brex, who dished out 22 assists and turned the ball over 11 times. Forward Kosuke Takeuchi, another All-Star, contributed five points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
Shiga (11-18) committed 17 turnovers and Tochigi capitalized on the Lakestars¡¯ miscues, scoring 19 points from turnovers.
Newcomer Venky Jois, an Australian forward who played college ball at Eastern Washington University, paced Shiga with 23 points on 11-for-16 shooting. D¡¯or Fischer had 15 points, 10 boards and six assists and Narito Namizato scored 11 points and handed out five assists.
The Brex shot 49.2 percent from the field; the Lakestars made 43.1 percent of their shots.
At the free-throw line, Tochigi was 14 of 18, while Shiga converted 7 of 15, including 1 of 7 by Jois.
Shiga lost its fourth consecutive game.
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