The Iwate Big Bulls have won 20 of 26 home games and have a rock-solid 17-6 road mark. That's currently good for third place in the bj-league's ultra-competitive Eastern Conference, which has four 30-plus win teams, twice as many as the Western Conference.

The Big Bulls collected their ninth straight victory on Saturday night, defeating the host Gunma Crane Thunders 74-68.

Iwate didn't have a plethora of fancy statistics in the victory. Instead, coach Dai Oketani's squad relied on all 10 players who saw court time making contributions.

Scootie Randall had a team-high 16 points. Randall and Lawrence Blackledge were Iwate's top rebounders (eight apiece), followed by Gyno Pomare's seven boards. Tsubasa Yomamine dished out a team-best five assists with zero turnovers.

The Big Bulls' Kenichi Takahashi had four steals and Blackledge blocked four shots.

Masato Tsukino added 14 points and Josh Peppers and Pomare scored 11 apiece, while Takahashi and Blackledge both had eight points in Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture.

Iwate struggled from the perimeter, knocking down 1 of 13 3-pointers, but finished 28-for-49 (57.1 percent from inside the 3-point arc).

Gunma (13-36) led 21-12 after the opening quarter, then trailed 36-35 at halftime.

Carlos Dixon led the hosts with 18 points and James Hughes poured in 13. Shingo Okada scored 10 points and Masashi Obuchi added nine points and five assists.

After the game, Gunma coach Hiroki Fujita said, "Iwate is a very solid team. They have talented imports that are very effective in transition and one-on-one play. We can't let our offense dictate the intensity and persistency on defense."

"Their bread and butter is the pressure full-court defense and transition buckets on the other end," Fujita told The Japan Times. "We have to be more aggressive against pressure and make them pay. We must move the ball and keep everybody involved on offense. We will not have a chance against Iwate in a one-on-one contest."

Rizing 72, Evessa 71

In Osaka, Reggie Warren had 12 points and 15 rebounds and Masahiro Kano scored 11 points as Fukuoka edged the Evessa.

Cohey Aoki added 10 points for the Rizing (26-23). Jun Nakanishi, Julius Ashby and David Palmer each had eight points in the win. Akitomo Takeno dished out seven assists to lead the team in that category.

For Osaka, Darko Cohadarevic was the high scorer with 16 points and D'Andre Bell added 14. Naoto Nakamura had 13 points and Kevin Galloway contributed 10 points and seven assists.

The Evessa fell to 21-28.

Phoenix 87, Bambitious 70

In Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, the hosts jumped out to a 16-point lead after one quarter in a series-opening win over Nara.

Jermaine Dixon paced Hamamatsu (27-22) with 20 points and six assists. Backcourt mate Shinnosuke Oishi had 15 points and seven assists.

Phoenix big man Cyrus Tate added 14 points and Ray Nixon had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Aki Chambers added 10 points and Dior Lowhorn scored eight.

Hamamatsu drained 10 3s (27 attempts) and held the visitors to five (23 tries).

Nara (18-33) wraps up its first season in the bj-league on Sunday.

Joe Chapman and Tatsuya Suzuki both scored 16 points for the Bambitious and Anthony Brown had 15 points and 10 boards. Jamar Abrams provided 10 points and eight boards.

B-Corsairs 82, Cinq Reves 64

In Machida, Tokyo Prefecture, Marcus Simmons scored 23 points and Wayne Marshall's 16-point, 12-rebound, five-block, three-steal performance sparked Yokohama in a rout of its Kanto rival.

Omar Reed chipped in with 17 points and 14 rebounds and captain Masayuki Kabaya had 10 points and five assists. Kenji Yamada provided five points, six assists and five steals for the reigning champion B-Corsairs (23-26).

Tokyo trailed 45-23 at intermission.

Ricky Woods led the Cinq Reves (13-36 overall, 7-18 at home) with 26 points. Yuji Ide added 17 points, including 9-for-9 at the free-throw line. Anthony Starver finished with eight points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.

Tokyo shot 21-for-63 from the field and 19-for-29 at the foul line.

Wat's 94, Broncos 75

In Saitama, Gordon Klaiber scored 23 points against his former team and Abdullahi Kuso notched a double-double as Aomori pounded the Broncos.

Kuso had 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds. Stanley Ocitti sank three 3s in a 13-point outing and Yuki Kitamuki, another ex-Bronco, had nine points and four assists. Makoto Sawaguchi and Anthony Kent both scored eight points, the latter also raking in 11 rebounds.

The sixth-place Wat's (25-24), an expansion team, improved their playoff chances, maintaining a one-game lead over the Sendai 89ers in the battle for the Eastern Conference' s final playoff spot.

Junya Masumoto and Michael Joiner had 22 points apiece for Saitama (5-44) and Mark Dawson scored 12 points.

89ers 101, Brave Warriors 85

In Chikuma, Nagano Prefecture, Takehiko Shimura scored 24 points and chalked up six assists and Sendai dominated on the boards in a one-sided win over Shinshu.

The 89ers (24-25) out-rebounded the Brave Warriors 64-41, including 26-11 on the offensive glass.

Dzaflo Larkai had 23 points and 17 boards for the victors, leading the team with eight offensive rebounds. Wendell White added 20 points and 19 boards and Travele Jones scored 20 points with 12 rebounds. Fumiya Sato scored 12 points for Sendai.

The 89ers overwhelmed the hosts in the first half, entering the second quarter ahead 34-11. Sendai led 54-27 at halftime.

Patrick Sanders knocked down seven 3s en route to a 30-point effort for the Warriors (30-19). Xavier Gibson added 17 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and four blocks and Jeff Parmer had 11 points before fouling out. Shoji Nakanishi scored nine points.

Golden Kings 79, Five Arrows 69 (OT)

In Takamatsu, Ryukyu outscored the Five Arrows 14-4 in the bonus period, improving to 17-6 in road games.

Anthony McHenry had a team-best 17 points for the Golden Kings (41-8) and Draelon Burns scored 16. Naoto Kosuge netted 11 points and Kibwe Trim scored nine. Ryuichi Kishimoto added seven points despite shooting 1-for-13 from the field. League legend Jeff Newton added 13 points and two blocks along with four points and three assists.

Ryukyu shot 26-for-33 at the free-throw line, while Takamatsu had just 16 attempts (13 makes).

Andrais Thornton had 17 points, 21 rebounds and four blocks for the Five Arrows (20-29) and Dexter Lyons scored 14 points with six assists. Paul Williams added nine points and 11 rebounds and Masaaki Suzuki scored eight points.

Susanoo Magic 89, Lakestars 83

In Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, Shimane erupted for 31 fourth-quarter points to pick up a win over Shiga.

The Susanoo Magic improved to 10-39. The Lakestars fell to 25-24.

"We played another good game vs. Shiga tonight," Shimane coach Reggie Hanson told The Japan Times. "We have won three of the last four. We had five guys in double figure points tonight, as well as another game of 23 assists and only 12 turnovers. We are really playing as one unit right now. No one cares who takes the shots or gets the points. They just (want) to win. We had some defensive lapses, but we got stops when we needed to. We also won the rebound battle 50-37. Shiga is playing for playoff position so they will come out on Sunday ready to play. We must do the same."

Note: Complete stats were unavailable at press time.