The Kyoto Hannaryz, who recently lost forwards David Palmer and Larry Owens to retirement and a season-ending knee injury, respectively, have signed a pair of Americans as roster replacements, the bj-league team announced on Friday.
The 202-cm Tyren Johnson, who attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and Moses Ehambe, an Oral Roberts University product, are the Western Conference-leading Hannaryz's newest acquisitions.
Johnson, 27, averaged 11.7 points and 5.6 rebounds in 44 games (31 starts) for the NBA Development League's Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the 2011-12 season. He suited up for the Indiana Pacers during the 2012-13 NBA Summer League in Orlando. He signed a free agent deal with Indiana in December 2011, but was released before appearing in an NBA regular-season game.
Ehambe, 29, has played in the D-League for the Tulsa 66ers, Iowa Energy and also in Austin Toros and Spain, Belgium and Germany. He was received the D-League's Sportsmanship Award in 2012. Ehambe averaged 12.6 points and 2.7 boards in 215 D-League games spanning the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2013-14 seasons.
Kyoto (17-3) takes a 10-game winning streak into Saturday's series opener against the visiting Akita Northern Happinets.