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Disappointing 4 point loss to Malaysia tonight. The game was back and forth the whole way but we couldn't seem to get the upper hand. Missed too many free throws and it seemed like we went through a stretch in the 3rd where we missed 15-20 straight shots.

This makes the last two games much more important. We need to win both the last two games. We get a week off for a bye to regroup. Next up is a challenging game against Thailand who has already secured two wins.

The U21 squad secured a big 122-101 victory over Prathet Thai U21 last night. Our strong outside attack proved to be too much for Prathet Thais weak peremiter defense, as such our team went 47-87 (54%) from the field with 13-27 (48%) from 3-point range. We also out rebounded the Thai team by a 53 to 27 margin.

The effort was led by Shinya Umari (Kotets) 29 points, 27 of which came in the first half before fouling out midway through the 3rd quarter. The big second half surge was driven by a group effort from Norio funaki (Yokozuna.), Mitsu Shibukji (Sapporo Fighters) and Takahiko Okada (工研人 - Taiwan) each putting up 17 with Usami Matsumura (Kotets) also contributing 16 points. The rebounding effort was led by Masaki Omori (Zenigata Gangs) with 13 boards.

With this victory our U21 team will advance to the second round of play with a victory in the final first round game against Vietnam U21. Vietnam has been making a poor showing all season with their closest game being a 17 point loss to Khazakhstan. We won't be taking them lightly though. Making a mistake against Vietnam would ruin the whole season.

Prathet Thai has a bye and is done. With a win against Veitnam we finish ahead of Prathet Thai because we have a much better +/-. Malaysia would also pass Prathet Thai with a win against Khazkhstan as they have about the same +/- as us.. Khazakstan and Vietnam are out.

If both us and Malaysia win then +/- will determine 3rd and 4th seeding. We are currently 2 points ahead and have the easier match up.

Basically, as long as we win we would advance.

Last edited by Taiyo at 6/7/2011 1:00:58 AM

Last night Nippon U21 delivered a definitive victory over lowly Vietnam U21 by a score of 143-97. This victory places the team in third place at the conclusion of the first round and will advance to play 5 more games in the second round starting next week. Other qualifiers from our group were China (1st), Hong Kong (2nd), and Prathet Thai (4th).

The star of the game was Mitsuo Shibukji (Sapporo Fighters) who co-led in points (21), co-led in rebounds (11) and led in assists (6). This was his first game at the PF position, sliding over from SF since Omori was not feeling well (gameshape). And to think the Shibukji is only 20, can't wait to see what he will do next season.

Of note in this game is that seven different players scored in double digits. All are worth mentioning: Shibukji mentioned above, Usami Matsumura (Kotets) 21 points, Tadahiro Nakanishi (Bakinman) 20 pts, Takahiko Okada (工研人-Taiwan) 17 pts, Masatomo Saiki (Mythical Man-Mouth) 15pts, Norio Funaki (Yokozuna) 15pts, Shinya Umari (Kotets) 14 pts. Nakanishi also was co-leader in rebounding with 11.

We now await the draw for the next stage in the competition. Now that all the rif-raf have been sorted out of the contest evey game going forward will be tough. We'll do our best to make you all proud of the team.

がんばります

Season 16 SENIOR NIGHT


Since we are already eliminated from advancing any further I am declaring the last game of the season as SENIOR NIGHT.

All Seniors (21 year olds) will be fetured in tonights game and will get playing time. I thought this would be a good way to give one last thank you to the graduating players and their managers.

I'll start building the roster for Season 17 in the next week or so.