Forward Justin Burrell scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Yokohama B-Corsairs to their sixth consecutive victory, a 76-57 defeat of the visiting Sendai 89ers on Friday night in the bj-league.
The B-Corsairs held the 89ers to less than 20 points in all four quarters in the teams' first-ever regular-season contest.
Chas McFarland scored 13 points with nine boards and Masayuki Kabaya added 11 points, five rebounds and four assists for Yokohama, an expansion club which improved to 28-21.
Yokohama's Draelon Burns scored eight points and Satoshi Hisayama and Kenji Yamada had six points apiece. Yamada also dished out five assists.
Yokohama led 38-34 at halftime.
Dan Fitzgerald scored 16 points for Sendai (25-24) and Johnny Dukes had 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Filip Toncinic scored nine points, Daisuke Takaoka added eight and Rashaad Singleton and Takehiko "Take" Shimura both had six.
"Take got knocked out — (about) 2 minutes into the third quarter (and) sent to the hospital — and then so did we," 89ers coach Bob Pierce said after the game.
Here's how Pierce described the aforementioned play: "Take drove into the paint on a fast break with their bigs in pursuit. No foul called, but he hit the basket support hard and had to be carried off on a stretcher."
The coach added: "He laid there for a while. He was conscious when they took him off, but probably has a concussion or something like that."