Kings split weekend home games against Niigata Albirex BB

Shuhei Kitagawa has grown into on of the most effective players in Kings' squad scoring 16 points on Saturday and 11 on Sunday.

Shuhei Kitagawa has grown into on of the most effective players in Kings’ squad scoring 16 points on Saturday and 11 on Sunday.

Golden Kings encountered Niigata Albirex BB in a paid of home games over the weekend. Albirex BB is in the 3rd place of the B. League Central Conference, and the weekend contests ended in a split for the Kings.

Naoki Tashiro delivered 23 points to Golden Kings on Sunday.

Naoki Tashiro delivered 23 points to Golden Kings on Sunday.

On Saturday, the Kings started the game reasonably with Shuhei Kitagawa and Shouta Tsuyama working well. The first quarter ended the teams almost even with 22-23, and much of the same continued with both squads scoring one after the other. At the half-point the score was even 38-38, and still almost even after the third at 57-60.

In the final quarter, the Kings gave seven points to Niigata in the first two minutes, but caught up to be only 3 points behind when there was only 1 minute 22 seconds left. However, the Kings had not been able to turn over the game through the whole match, and finally lost 74-82.

Head Coach Tsutomu Isa analyzed the game afterwards saying, “Although we did not have many turnovers, we missed big with our timing which we should not have to.”

On Sunday, the start of the game was not good with the first quarter ending 15-21. But the margin did not spread in the 2nd quarter with especially Naoki Tashiro working hard scoring 13 points in the quarter. Tashiro continued in the 3rd quarter scoring 10 more points,

The game finally turned over, and ended with 61-59 victory for the Kings. In the final quarter, Nigata caught up with just one point behind, but the Kings could hang on to the game.

After the game, Tashiro said, “I played exceptionally well tonight, but I feel very relieved I was able to do my work.”

Isa agreed. “Tashiro contributed very much to our game tonight, and I expect he should be a big plus for the team in future also.”

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18:25 29 Mar , 2024