Levanga Hokkaido shooting guard Takehiko Orimo surpassed the 9,000-career point milestone on Monday night in an 84-62 loss to the red-hot Chiba Jets.
The 46-year-old basketball icon, known for decades of outside shooting prowess, eclipsed 9,000 points on, appropriately, a 3-point basket with 50 seconds remaining in the opening quarter in Yubari, Hokkaido. That gave him 9,001 at that moment in a pro career that began in the JBL in the early 1990s, then the NBL and has continued in the new B. League.
Orimo finished with 12 points and three assists for Levanga (5-14). Jahmar Thorpe paced Hokkaido with 21 points.
Guard Yuki Togashi led the Jets (12-7) with 21 points and dished out four assists. Ryumo Ono had 19 points and Tyler Stone added 15 points. Michael Parker and Hilton Armstrong scored 10 and nine points, respectively, while the latter, a former NBA big man, grabbed 11 rebounds.
Chiba extended its winning streak to seven games as coach Atsushi Ono's club went unbeaten in November.