A marquee matchup between the Tochigi Brex and SeaHorses Mikawa will headline the opening week of the B. League's second season, the league announced Monday.
The Brex, who won the championship in a hard-fought one-off final against the Kawasaki Brave Thunders in the inaugural season of Japan's top men's basketball circuit late last month, will face Mikawa in a rematch of last season's playoff semifinals. In that series, Tochigi managed to beat the SeaHorses in a decisive, 10-minute game to book a spot in the title game at Yoyogi National Gymnasium.
"These two teams played extremely hard against each other in the semifinals," Brex guard Yusuke Endo said at a news conference at the league's office. "So we are excited about it, and we would like to go into the game with the pride of being the first champions."