Playing the first regular-season home game in franchise history, the expansion Tokyo Cinq Reves trailed by 18 points after one quarter on Friday evening.
Coach Motofumi Aoki's team battled back against the Toyama Grouses but, in the end, was unable to overcome the big deficit, falling 86-81 in Chuo Ward, Tokyo.
Center Jonathon Jones paced the Cinq Reves (2-3) with 25 points and 12 rebounds. He also had five assists and two steals while playing all 40 minutes. Former Osaka Evessa guard Hirohisa Takada added 18 points, including four 3-pointers, and handed out five assists, while Cohey Aoki poured in 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field and registered four assists.
Yuta Kurihara and Rasheem Barrett both scored seven points for Tokyo.
The Cinq Reves outscored the visitors 50-30 in the two middle periods, but the Grouses held strong in the end.
Angel Garcia scored a team-high 21 points for Toyama (4-3) and grabbed 12 rebounds. Frontcourt mate Ira Brown had 19 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Takeshi Mito scored 14 points and Jeremy Jacob and Masashi Joho had 10 points apiece. Joho also dished out eight assists. Mitsuhiro Kamezaki had nine points on 4-for-5 shooting.
Grouses coach Bob Nash's team shot 54.5 percent from inside the 3-point arc and drained all eight of its free-throw attempts. Toyama had a plus-eight rebounding margin against Tokyo. The Grouses also turned the ball over 10 times while collecting 20 assists.