Juan GDL, Carino go down quietly in B. League weekend losses

The Earthfriends Tokyo Z quickly crashed back to reality after their breakthrough win as the Ehime Orange Vikings exacted an 84-57 revenge blowout on Saturday, November 20.

Juan Gomez de Liaño, who celebrated his 22nd birthday with a win the previous day, finished Saturday’s match with 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists in 22 minutes as the Earthfriends slid to a 1-14 record.

Off a small 35-31 lead at the start of the second half, Ehime mauled Tokyo with a game-sealing 20-6 run that saw the lead ballooning to 55-37 near the end of the period.

Things only got better for the Vikings in the final frame as they outscored the Earthfriends, 29-17, with former PBA import Eugene Phelps finishing with a monster 31-point, 20-rebound double-double to atone for his 8-marker game the previous day.

Meanwhile, fellow reinforcement Andrew Fitzgerald chipped in 26 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists as the import duo tied the entire Earthfriends squad with 57 total markers.

Tokyo can get back to its winning ways with a back-to-back set on November 29 and 30 against the Yamagata Wyverns.

Things continued to go south as well for the other Filipino in the B. League Division 2 as Kemark Carino and the Aomori Wat’s dropped both their matches against the Sendai 89ers for the weekend.

On Saturday, the 89ers blew out the Wat’s, 77-55, thanks to a balanced scoring attack led by 14 points in 18 minutes from local guard Masaharu Kataoka.

Carino, on the losing end, chipped in 4 points and 4 rebounds in 18 minutes, while local forward Koki Fujioka led the team with 12 markers on 5-of-7 shooting.

The Gilas Pilipinas prospect also had 4 points in 10 minutes on Sunday, November 21, as Sendai handed Aomori an even bigger blowout, 88-53, thanks to 22 points on an 11-of-13 clip from import Justin Burrell.

The Wat’s, now losers of nine straight with a 1-14 record, can turn their fortunes around next weekend, November 27 and 28, against the Bambitious Nara. – Rappler.com