The Hiroshima Dragonflies claimed their first Japanese basketball championship with a 65-50 victory over the Ryukyu Golden Kings in the winner-take-all Game 3 of the B-League finals on Tuesday.
Swingman Dwayne Evans contributed 13 points and guard Takuto Nakamura 12 to lead their team across the line in a defensive arm wrestle at a packed Yokohama Arena.
The Okinawa-based Golden Kings were aiming to go back-to-back as champions in their third straight trip to the finals, but head coach Dai Oketani's men could not find their three-point stroke and connected on just four of 24 attempts from deep.
Hiroshima head coach Kyle Milling credited the spirit and defensive principles of his team, which secured one of two wild-card playoff berths after finishing third in the western conference.
"Our strength all year was our defense," Milling said. "It's thanks to the players believing in what they do that we came out with our defense this year. Defense wins games, and defense wins championships."
Hiroshima outscored Ryukyu in each of the first two quarters and led by 11 late in the third before the Golden Kings made it a two-possession game at the final change on Vic Law's three-pointer and Keita Imamura's 2-for-2 trip to the line.
With Ryukyu pushing to close the gap in the fourth, Nakamura hit from deep to stretch the lead back to double digits at 56-46 with 4:16 left. The Golden Kings were unable to answer on consecutive trips before Evans delivered the dagger with back-to-back buckets.
"We came in feeling like we were the challengers," Nakamura said. "We wanted to enjoy our time on this stage and were able to play our natural game."
Hiroshima sent the series to a decisive third game by beating Ryukyu 72-63 on Sunday. The Golden Kings won Saturday's series opener 74-62.
