Ryukyu Golden Kings faced Alvark Tokyo in the inaugural pair of regular season games of the B. League that combines the National Basketball League (NBL) and the TKbj-League. The season opening games were played Thursday and Friday at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo.

Alvark Tokyo made a clean sweep of the series. In the first game, the Ryukyu Golden Kings lost to Alvark Tokyo 75-80, and the numbers on the board after the second game were 53-74 for Alvark.

Goden Kings got to a slow start in the Thursday Game in front of a sold out audience of 9,132, but managed to close the gap and keep their hopes alive until the end.

When the final quarter started, Ryukyu Golden Kings were 13 points behind. Kings’ great defensive guard forced Alvark to make mistakes, and they closed the gap by swift attacks, however that was not enough and they lost the game by 5 points at the end.

It was the historic opening game of the B. League. The court was specifically prepared for the day with flashy LED-light visual effects. The game was broadcast nationwide on TV and many Kings’ fans came to watch the game from Okinawa cheering wildly for the team.

Kings’ second game against Alvark Tokyo was on Friday 19:00 at the same stadium.

In the second game Alvark Tokyo jumped a large lead and kept it all the way to the end. The Kings were behind 4-16 after the first quarter and 17-32 at halftime. The number at the end were 53-74 for Alvark Tokyo.

In their next game, the Golden Kings is playing against Shiga Lakestars at Okinawa City Gym on Oct. 1 and 2., and a week later they face Seahorse Mikawa at the same venue.

All in all, the B. League teams will play 60 matches each during the season.

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