In a heated contest that featured the intensity of a playoff clash, the Chiba Jets held on for an 84-78 victory over the Alvark Tokyo on Sunday afternoon.
The Alvark never led in the series finale, a day after dropping an overtime contest against their East Division rival at Yoyogi National Gymnasium No 2.
Tokyo missed some key scoring opportunities down the stretch, including Daiki Tanaka with 16 seconds left in the fourth quarter. With the Alvark trailing 82-78, he was fouled by Chiba's Ryumo Ono while attempting a 3-point shot, and then stepped to the line and missed all three attempts.