MACAU – For the third straight year, the B.League asserted its dominance in the East Asia Super League.
Utsunomiya Brex scored a wire-to-wire win over the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots, 90-81, on Sunday night, ensuring that the EASL championship remained in Japan.
DJ Newbill fired 21 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range, while former Japan national player Makoto Hiejima went 5-of-6 from the same area for 19 points as they spearheaded Utsunomiya's run to the title and the $1.5 million top prize.
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Heijima was later named as Finals MVP.
Seeing action in their maiden EASL stint, the reigning B.League champions raced to a commanding 39-13 lead at the end of the first period and never looked back.
The Brex, who also won the Basketball Champions League Asia last year, became the third straight B.League team to reign in the EASL regular season after the Chiba Jets (2024) and the Hiroshima Dragonflies last season.
Newbill also added eight assists and four rebounds for the Brex, who likewise got 18 points from Shinji Takashima and 11 from Jerrett Grant.
The loss marked the second straight runner-up finish for Taoyuan after likewise falling in last year’s finals against the Dragonflies. The Pilots settled for the runner-up purse of $750,000.
Ryukyu Golden Lions meanwhile, took third place and won $375,000 by edging out Alvark Tokyo, 77-76, in an all B.League showdown.
Ryo Sadohara scored on a fast break layup in the final seven seconds for the marginal score as the Golden Kings finally wrested the lead.
Alvark had one final shot at a game-winner, but Taiki Okasabe missed on a three-point jumper as the final buzzer sounded.
It was the first podium finish for Ryukyu in the EASL, surpassing last year’s fourth-place finish when it lost to New Taipei Kings in the battle for third.
The scores:
Ryukyu (77) – Cooley 20, Dotson 19, Kirk 13, Kishimoto 8, Matsuwang 7, Sadohara 4, Waki 3, Onodera 3, Arakawa 0.
Alvark (76) – Davies 25, Saiz 21, Toews 13, Ando 6, Baranski 4, Nakamura 2, Okura 0, Kikuchi 0, Hiraiwa 0, Fukuzawa 0.
Quarterscores: 19-21; 38-32; 54-52; 77-76.
Utsunomiya (90) – Newbill 21, Heijima 19, Takashima 18, Jerrett 11, Ogawa 10, Edwards 8, Endo 3, Takeuchi 0.
Taoyuan Pauian (81) – Graham 23, Artino 18, Li 15, Li CK 10, Brown 8, Chen 5, Kuan 2, Dieng 0, Pai 0.
Quarterscores: 39-13; 51-32; 72-56, 90-81.
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