Yokohama B-Corsairs win Japan’s BJ title

The Yokohama B-Corsairs’ 101-90 win over the Fukuoka Rizing marked a couple of firsts in Japanese basketball. The win gave Yokohama BC their first BJ league title. It also marked the first championship won by a foreign-born head coach (Reggie Geary).

It was an unexpected win for some as Yokohama is a relatively new team, just joining the BJ league in the 2011-12 season. On the other hand, they displayed potential as early as their debut season when they finished the regular season as the Japanese BJ League Eastern Division Runners-up in 2012, taking themselves all the way as far as the BJ League Semifinals.

Yokohama was led by their team captain and Finals MVP, Masayuki Kabaya (183 cm), who finished a game-high 35 points which was highlighted by a perfect 5-5 shooting from three-point range. Kabaya was almost matched point for point by American guard Draelon Burns (194 cm, De Paul’08) who finished the contest with 34 points of his own. Burns also added five rebounds and five assists in his stellar effort off the B-Corsairs’ bench.

Fukuoka was led by the efforts of imports Josh Peppers (201 cm, Central Florida’07) and Reginald Warren (204 cm, West Florida’03), who scored 25 and 20 points respectively. Warren gave a valiant effort crashing the boards for his team, as he capped off a double-double performance with 17 rebounds.

In the end, Yokohama took the game via their impressive shooting both from beyond the arc and from the free-throw line. They shot 50% from downtown and they also converted 34 of their 36 free-throw attempts.