NIIGATA Albirex BB suffered a 14-point collapse to suffer a heartbreaking 79-78 defeat to Alvark Tokyo Wednesday in the 2021-22 B.League season at Arena Tachikawa Tachihi.
Naturalized player Ryan Rossiter willed the home team to fight back from a 58-44 third quarter deficit and crawled back thanks to a 24-point fourth quarter finishing kick.
Alvark were staring at a 78-75 deficit after a big three-pointer from Rosco Allen, before Rossiter took over and drained a big jumper, before stealing the ball from Allen and draining the go-ahead bucket with 20.1 seconds left.
Niigata had one last chance to steal the game, but Allen's late trey could not find the bottom of the net.
It was a tough defeat for the Albirex, which suffered their sixth straight defeat to drop to a 2-7 card.
Allen also wasted his 28-point, 9-rebound, and 5-assist performance in the defeat.
Kobe Paras B.League update
Kobe Paras chipped in 13 points, three steals, a rebound, and an assist in 27 minutes of play to help Niigata in the losing cause.
Tshilidzi Nephawe got 14 points, four boards, and four assists, as Kimitake Sato shot two three-pointers for his 10 points, four dimes, and three rebounds for the Albirex.
Niigata will hope to break this skid after a 10-day break as it visits the Ryukyu Golden Kings at City Hall Plaza Aore Nagaoka on Nov. 6 and 7.
Rossiter only had 11 points in the game, but made the biggest buckets for Alvark to rise to a 6-3 card.
Alex Kirk paced Tokyo with 22 points and four rebounds, Sebas Saiz got 14 points and eight boards, and Daiki Tanaka had 10 points, six assists, two rebounds, and two steals in the conquest.
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