Without defenders' hands in his face, contesting his shot and trying to disrupt his timing, Saitama Broncos forward Gary Johnson was a potent weapon on Friday night at Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium.
Johnson capitalized on his frequent visits to the free-throw line in the bj-league series opener, draining 13 of 18 foul shots in Saitama's 92-79 victory over the Yokohama B-Corsairs.
In fact, all of Johnson's 13 points were produced from the charity stripe, and he only attempted three shots from the floor. The University at Albany (State University of New York) product is averaging a team-best 18.5 points per game and shooting 72.6 percent at the line.
Guard Koji Nagata led Saitama (3-28) with 24 points, including 5-for-8 from 3-point range, and eight assists. Nyika Williams added 14 points and a team-best 11 rebounds and Ari Stewart had 11 points. Junya Masumoto and Brian Ormon scored eight points apiece and Takato Hara poured in seven points.
Saitama had 34 first-half points and took a modest two-point advantage into the third quarter before closing out the game with a 39-point outburst in the fourth quarter.
What's more, Saitama, which finished with 21 assists and eight turnovers, has now won back-to-back games for the first time all season. After Saturday's rematch against Yokohama, the Broncos have a bye week before facing the Tokyo Cinq Reves in a Feb. 21-22 series.
All three of the Broncos' wins have come in road games.
The B-Corsairs (7-24) trailed 53-52 entering the final stanza.
Warren Niles paced Yokohama with 20 points and Carl Hall contributed 15 points and 18 rebounds. Wayne Marshall added 14 points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks. Dzaflo Larkai had eight points and seven boards and Seiji Kono also put eight points on the board.
B-Corsairs point guard Kenji Yamada dished out seven assists.
